Agenda item

This report provides information to the Statutory Advisory and Consultative Committees on planning and policy issues in relation to Alexandra Park and Palace. It also provides additional information on the events programme and a range of activities of the Charitable Trust.

The CEO introduced the report and invited Member comments. The following was noted:

Park Update

• The yellow shipping container that was in the Go Ape area had been removed following completion of a new electrical supply store.
• The CEO informed that the ice cream vans operating within the Park and the east car park had the appropriate licences to operate. The ice cream company that the Trust used provided registration numbers of the vans used and notified the Trust of any changes in vehicles.
• No feedback had been received on the Park Run event coffee van trial. The Trust had a good working relationship with Park Run. If it wished to use its coffee van onsite then it would have to apply for a licence, as it was commercial activity.

Post meeting note: The arrangements for the coffee van at Park Run events have now been made, to the satisfaction of the Trust.

• The CEO confirmed that the annual report on outdoor events monitoring framework, which was discussed by the Board in November 2018, would be listed as a standalone item at the next Joint Committee meeting.(Action: Natalie Layton).

East Wing and Theatre

Theatre - The original business plan for the Theatre was being exceeded. There had been a high level of interest in holding performances/events at the Theatre with a broad range of performances listed with a mixture of community usage.

The CEO confirmed that a list of the community and local arts groups past and future activities at the Theatre would be listed in the minutes, they are as follows:

·         BBC Proms learning – 1st December

·         Haringey Music Service – Saturday 2^nd December

·         Haringey has pride workshop – 1st April

·         Bilbo Buzz Children books awards on the 2nd April (26 schools)

Post meeting note: We have held many more community and creative learning activities in other areas including the East Court and Transmitter Hall. The areas chosen to facilitate these events are dependent on the event requirements and capacity.  The table below shows the community events currently provided by the Creative Learning Team:

Table – Creative Learning community activities:

A new website was due to be launched, which would better highlight the breadth of the operations of the organisation, including the Theatre.

In response to a question the CEO confirmed that there was no progress on the BBC Studios element of the original East Wing project, due to lack of capacity and likelihood of funding at this time.

Concern was expressed that the Friends of the Theatre were not happy with the level of recognition from the Trust. The CEO confirmed that she and the Trust acknowledged the work of the Friends in supporting the Theatre frequently. If there were any concerns amongst the Friends of the Theatre, they were invited to discuss those with the CEO. The CEO noted that it was surprising at the recent meeting with the Friends that these issues had not been raised. Nigel Wilmott stated that the concern expressed was not shared by the majority of Friends members.

Members praised the CEO for her interview on Radio 3 with Ken Bruce.

Good feedback had been received on the acoustics in the Theatre.

Creative Learning

• The Chair noted the tabled paper to the CEO’s Update Report, which clarified that the funding award from the Tottenham Grammar Foundation provided £10,000 towards the Big Schools Day BAFTA Kids event and £6,000 towards Biblio Buzz.  The second Big Schools Day was Para Dance an externally funded event for children with special education needs, in partnership with Para-Dance and London Youth Games
• Regarding the redecoration of the Transmitter Hall, the CEO would feedback to the team regarding the suggestion to incorporate interpretation in the space.

A member asked what the Trust was doing to celebrate 50 Years of Open University (OU), the university opened in 1969.  Post meeting note: There have been discussions with the OU about the possibility of hosting an event commemorating the OU’s first graduation in 1973.  The Trust has been liaising with OU archive and contributing to their celebrations/ online exhibition.  It has also engaged with ex-OU staff who worked at Alexandra Palace and hosted a reunion including a tour of the site. In June 2019, there are plans this year to include a blog on "the Ally Pally spirit" and social media regarding the first graduation.

West Yard Storage Building

The top floor of the new West Yard Building was not fitted out and so the Trust team would remain where they were currently situated, for now.

Events and Noise Management

·         The CEO corrected the report at 6.6 and informed the number of complaints received from the Fireworks festival was four, not two.

·         Kaleidoscope Presents, a spin off which would incorporate some of the aspects of the Kaleidoscope festival, was to be held in the summer of 2019. It is hoped to hold the festival again in 2020.

·         The CEO confirmed a list of upcoming events would be circulated with the minutes – see table below.

·         The Tottenham Hotspur shuttle bus had caused issues for the Trust, even though reassurances were given that the potential impacts would be managed and avoided. There was also issues with the match goers using AP car parks as a park and ride for the stadium. The Trust had written to the club and intended to contact the Council’s planning department to inform them of the Trust’s dissatisfaction with the arrangements.

Table – Upcoming Events

Car Park charging project update

The CEO clarified that the report referred to the appointment of experts to assist the Trust in testing the proposals to charge for car parking on site, not the actual implementation of charges.

Recruitment of Independent Members

The CEO informed there had been widespread interest in the two advertised independent non-executive director roles for APTL and for the independent committee member (finance) for the Trust Finance, Risk, Resource and Audit Committee.

RESOLVED

That the content of the report, including the closure of Alexandra Palace Way from 10am on Friday 5^th July until 5am on Monday 8^th July for the Red Bull event, be noted.