Agenda item

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NO. 1 Under Schedule 4, 13, Mr H Loxton asked the Leader of the Council Councillor J Oates, the following question:-

What was the full financial cost to Tamworth Borough Council of hosting the annual fireworks display on Saturday 6th November 2021?

Councillor Jeremy Oates gave the following reply:-

Thank you Mr Loxton.

The total direct cost of the event was £37,153 less income.  That was the expenditure for the event. I would like to say I consider that money well spent.

You will be aware that last year families missed out on this annual event as we had to cancel it along with many other things due to the Covid restrictions.  So I am really pleased to see that 2021 saw the largest crowd we have ever seen at this free community event. It is estimated 24,000 people in the castle grounds and estimates suggest there were 10,000 people elsewhere in the town centre watching the fireworks, so per head the cost was a little over £1.

With many firework displays cancelled this year, we expected numbers to be high and reports have been received that people travelled across the region from Leicester, Derby, Nuneaton, Lichfield, Coventry, Warwickshire, Birmingham and even London. Which is a phenomenal feat.

Many of the spectators arrived earlier in the day by road, rail and bus, and they enjoyed shopping at our market within the town centre as well as Ventura Park. Local pubs and restaurants reported a very busy day trading beforehand and some after the event in the castle grounds.  We also had over 200 visitors to the castle on Saturday which is a significant increase on the average Saturday.

Boosting the economy is paramount and all our community arts events are held in the town and castle grounds, including the annual fireworks display are our contribution to helping the local economy.   Tamworth is one of the few places that still has a free fireworks display and it is one of the largest ones in the Midlands.  I am proud that we are doing this, we have been doing this for over a decade and our contribution, I think, really is well received.

With every event we learn as we go on, we are constantly evaluating ourselves and our event management. We are currently undertaking a full debrief as we do with all events and that will happen in the next couple of weeks.

I have seen some negative comments on social media. I don’t recognise these as problems, I see larger problems on the motorway network every time the NEC has a large event, every time there is a large football game or there’s a large sporting event, let’s not even start to discuss V fest or Glastonbury and the mess that leaves the M6 or A5 in, or in the case of Glastonbury the M5 too.

I would like to congratulate the organisers and staff who were involved in pulling off this event.  My sympathy is also with them. Within minutes of the end of the fireworks display they were taking their phones out of their pockets and seeing negative comments on social media. It’s like a slap in the face. A minority of people eager to pick out the negatives and drag people down. These guys and girls worked really, really hard to put on what was a successful event for tens of thousands of people to enjoy.

As far as I am concerned this was a huge event and we will continue to invest in our outdoor events, we will continue to invest in them because they have wider benefits to the economy and the community.

Mr Loxton asked the following Supplementary Question:

I do have a supplementary and if you’ll bear with me it’s at the end of what I am going to say.

So we know the financial pressures facing the council, with a £7m shortfall over the next 5 years, we’ve been told about that.  The £37,000 I think you said, that’s not going to make a difference to that budget it’s not going to be the breaking point to that budget one way or another.  It’s not a massive amount to spend but if you look at it over a 15 minute display it’s about over £2,000 per minute and there’s probably not much Tamworth Borough Council spend at £2000 per minute.  The outdoor events programme is good, it’s fantastic the council should be applauded for keeping the events going especially in the current financial climate and as you’ve said what we’ve put up with COVID.  The outdoor events is what I have singled out regularly as one of the top things the council does.  However with regards to fireworks there are a vast range of opinions.  There will be opinions on whether the financial outlay is worth it.  I agree with you I think it is. But there is also opinions on what type of display is wanted.  We’ve heard Councillor Brindley mention drone displays.  We’ve had the option of silent fireworks, so there are options around the type of display. On top of the financial spend, there is obviously also the safety aspects.   The actual firework display itself no one can argue with that it’s a fantastic display year after year but there was safety issues around that display with the way cars were parked and I know that’s not your fault but it seemed to me nothing was being done about it. Only 4 tickets were issued that night, 4 tickets. When pavements were blocked, people pushing wheelchairs were having to go in the road, you couldn’t get across Town Drive without going onto a 40 mile an hour road. Now you talk about the motorway, people tend not to walk up the motorway to be fair. 

People want to engage on this topic.  I have asked four questions on social media about the display and I have had nearly 100 responses to those questions, people want to give their views and they are not all negative.  There is a fireworks working group on the council, its been on the council for some time now.  All I would ask is that you engage with the public on this to see what they want, to see what type of display they want.  I am sure that the vast majority of people want it to go ahead and to carry on going ahead but I would just ask you to let the public to get involved with the type of display especially with environmental issues and things like that, just so we get it right for everybody, around the financial cost, as well as the type of display and the safety around it. Little things perhaps that could be done; you could have parking notices up like you have for Food Gusto, directing people, you could perhaps use Lichfield Road Industrial Estate, direct people down there.

Just my question basically is, will you please engage directly with the public on what they want? Thank you.

Councillor J Oates responded

In response to your direct question, will we engage with the public, absolutely, however, there are limits to what we can deliver.  We purchase a display from a professional company, we haven’t got our own guys popping down Asda and buying a couple of boxes of this, that and the other, so it’s also what is available in the market.  I’ve got no issue with engaging with the public in terms of their desires, I’ve got no issue in listening to the public’s feelings.

In terms of the safety issues that you referred to earlier, council’s cannot control people’s behaviour.  I left my house in my car 2 hours before the display.  I drove my car for about 3 and a half minutes and went I ain’t getting to town in this.  I turned my car round, went back home, parked outside my house and walked into town. People that struggled to park or struggled to get into town, created their own issue and in doing so they impacted on other people.  I would suggest with a few exceptions everybody had the opportunity to leave earlier, everybody had the opportunity to use a different mode of transport and in doing so they help each other out.  Those that leave late or rush and try and find a space immediately before a firework display are creating the problem.  The bottom line is with upward of 30,000 people in the town centre, there’s only 1000 car parking spaces and we are not going to invest in car parking spaces for the sake of a 3 hour event it’s just not going to happen.  So I would implore anybody who has the ability to use a different mode of transport, to do so.  That said, I appreciate not everybody can make the 40 minute walk that I did.  But if those that can, do, those that can’t, have got a better chance of being able to get where they need to get to.  So this is about everybody looking at themselves and their own behaviour and how that impacts on other people.

I do want to pick up the point on the £37,000 and the suggestion that’s £2000 per minute.  This is the cost of the whole event.  There were other things going on in the castle grounds and other entertainment, there was the fair and there was other elements.  The fireworks themselves were not £37,000 this was a 4 hour, a 3 or 4 hour event so I would argue this wasn’t about just, as you suggest, the £2000 per minute for a firework display.

In terms of pressures I think you hit the nail on the head.  This isn’t going to fix the £7m gap in the budget.  This is about our contribution.

What would fix the £7m gap in our budget is if this council did not have to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds every year picking up litter because some dirty, disrespectful individuals continue to drop it on our streets, that would make a massive saving to the Borough Council.

In terms of should we do a firework display, I hear what you’re saying about the public would support it.  Should we do other outdoor events? It’s all about, we can do these because we want to invest in our economy and our communities. This is why we have these outdoor events, it’s not to feel good, because they’re a lot of work and a headache.  This is about investing in our communities and we will continue to do that.  But in terms of your substantive supplementary question, happy to listen to different people’s opinions.  The working group you refer to is within a scrutiny committee which I have no influence or involvement in but I will pass the message on to those people on that committee that you have raised these points this evening.

Thank you.

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