Agenda and minutes

Jeff Allen

Janine Bone

Councillor Jon Collins – other Council business

Councillor Nick McDonald – non-Council business

Councillor David Mellen – other Council business

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2016

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Presentation by Paul Seddon, Chief Planner, Development Management, Nottingham City Council

Paul Seddon, Chief Planning Officer at Nottingham City Council, delivered a presentation updating members on Nottingham City Council’s media strategy. The following information was highlighted:

(a)  The Digital Media Strategy will guide the Council’s management of digital screens in the city. The aim is to propose three possible locations across the city for media screens;

(b)  Large screens are becoming increasingly common place in other cities, such as Birmingham and London and it is likely that Nottingham will begin to receive applications for large digital screens in prominent city centre locations;

(c)  The project aims to increase the presence of digital media throughout the city which would be integrated into public spaces and architecture. This will require locations, positioning and context to be considered so that proposals can be considered realistically;

(d)  The Strategy will be rolled out over two phases with prominent city centre sites delivered initially before a second phase delivery throughout the wider city;

(e)  New locations for the media screen presence could be at the Victoria Centre or along Collin Street and the Broadmarsh which could link in with the pedestrianisation scheme;

(f)  The Victoria Centre would provide good visibility on a platform with high level of footfall. The downside is that careful consideration would need to be given to avoiding a clash with Victoria Centre signage. Potential uses include Victoria Centre advertisements and events, tenant advertisements or live webcam streaming;

(g)  A digital screen at Collin Street, incorporated within the Broadmarsh Car Park would provide good visibility on the approach into the city from Nottingham Train Station and provide a warm welcome to Nottingham. Potential uses include third party paid advertisements or events or potential City Council advertisements or notices;

(h)  The City Council has been consulting on the City Centre Digital Media Planning statement in response to the growing has been produced to help guide planning decisions. Executive Board approval will be sought in January 2017 before progressing with phase 1 of the strategy.

The following information was highlighted in response to questions:

(i)  The development of this strategy is to be welcomed and has been developed in other major cities around the world. This represents an opportunity to put Nottingham on the map;

(j)  Digital screening will provide a contemporary city feel and with decreasing budgets may provide an opportunity for income generation;

(k)  The down-time for the screens is relatively low but the planning process would need to consider what the screen will look like and how this impacts on the location;

(l)  The planning process will have little control over content however the Council has been reassured by the media owners’ code of conduct which regulates advertisement content;

(m)  The second phase of the strategy will look at town centres and park and ride sites.

RESOLVED to support to Digital Media Strategy in Nottingham.

Presentation by Inspector Mark Stanley, Nottinghamshire Police

It was agreed to defer this item to the next meeting on 27 February 2017.

Presentation by Brendan Moffett, Chief Executive, Experience Nottinghamshire

Brendan Moffett, Chief Executive of Experience Nottinghamshire, delivered an update to the Forum on the new Place Marketing Organisation (PMO) and its future strategy. The following information was highlighted:

(a)  The organisation has recently relocated with its entire staff now within one building in the Lace Market;

(b)  The PMO will focus on:

·  extensive consultation on place identity

·  branding for the city and county

·  Investment and attracting funding to the local economy

(c)  In year 1, the PMO will focus on investment into the region with high profile activity in London. Some of this work will be specifically targeted at growing businesses with a view to promoting Nottingham as a destination;

(d)  In January 2017, the PMO will unveil its business strategy aimed at increasing Nottingham’s profile as a vibrant business destination with excellent links.

The following information was highlighted in response to questions from the Forum:

(e)  The PMO offers a great opportunity unify around key strategic aims in Nottingham and makes strides in terms of investing in Nottingham and improving the visitor economy in Nottingham;

(f)  Nottingham is home to two very good universities but more work needs to be done on attracting talent to live and work in Nottingham. A high number of students come from the south of England to study in Nottingham but once they’ve completed their education they return back to the south. A talent attraction campaign is linked the work taking place in London in January 2017 around increasing Nottingham’s profile as a vibrant city and an attractive destination;

(g)  The retail sector in general terms is changing. The retail landscape is far more competitive with the growth of the internet market and contributory factors such as accessibility and free parking. Nottingham has an eclectic offer in Nottingham and vacancy rates no longer present a significant challenge;

(h)  The PMOs Business Plan will address some of the work taking place around branding in Nottingham and partnership working to improve the retail offer. This will be presented to the Forum in February 2017.

RESOLVED to

(1)  Thanks Brendan Moffett for the informative update;

(2)  Discuss the Place Marketing Organisation’s Business Plan at the City Centre Forum on 27 February 2017.