Agenda item

Simon Colburn, Assistant Director (Health and Environment):

a)    presented Performance Scrutiny Committee with the financial performance of the 2021 Lincoln Christmas Market

b)    highlighted that the 2021 Lincoln Christmas Market that was held from the 2^nd to the 5^th of December 2021 was visited by around 270,000 over the 4-day period

c)    explained that there was not an estimate of the economic impact of the 2021 market yet but according to the economic assessment and visitor surveys previously carried out by the University of Lincoln on our behalf:

·         total visitors spend from the event had been estimated in the region of £13m with the direct estimated economic value to the city of £2.5m

·         42% of the audience were from the local area, compared to 58% being visitors

·         It was roughly an equal split between those that have attended the market before and those attending for the first time

·         Average visitors spend at the market was around £55 – normally split fairly equally between spend in the market and spend elsewhere in the locale

·         The market attracted  visitors across a wide range of ages and income levels.

d)    invited members comments and questions.

Question: Members asked whether the impact from the market on car parking revenue was monitored.

Response: Currently we don’t have two years of continuous data due to Covid so there was nothing to benchmark. This would be looked at for future.

Question: Members asked what feedback had been given from residents as members had less complaints than they normally did.

Response: A residents briefing took place in August before the market took place which turned out to be a busy event. This briefing seemed to iron out some queries/complaints that may have arisen after the market had taken place. There are some residents that complain every year and we try our best to improve this every year.

Question: Members commented that the price of items was a lot higher than previous years and asked whether this is monitored by us.

Response: We don’t set a price limit or any guidelines as the stallholders decide what they charge. There were comments made that items were priced higher than before.

Question: Members asked whether there was a loss in income due to the rain at the park and ride site and what was being put in place this year to avoid a similar incident.

Response: This did cause a loss in income as the park and ride shut at around 11am. Some tickets had to be refunded and we used a company to help motorists out of the mud which cost around £200. The costs were minimal. As the contracts were precured for this year, a specialist parking company will be used.

Question: Members asked whether there could be signs outside car parks when the next market was on to notify motorists that there were no spaces, especially in the central car park.

Response: More work needed to take place around parking, but staff would be put on place to monitor car parks. The Park and Ride is always pushed for as this helped pay for the infrastructure of the market. There were only two streams of income for the market, and these were the park and ride and stallholders.

Question: Members asked for data regarding how many people were impacted by the train issues.

Response: It was too early to say as data wasn’t available as of yet. We got a lot of visitors from the Northwest and Yorkshire etc. Data could not be sought from LNER as they only tell us how many extra carriages they put on for the market.

Question: Members asked if the Council was open to sponsorship for the market.

Response: Sponsorship was constantly looked for and a consultant was to be procured to look at sponsorship options. Any sponsorship deals found would be brought before members.

Comment: Members commented that an excellent job had been done with regards to pathways and matting around the Lawn. Members didn’t hear any complaints regarding the one-way system this year.

Comment: Residents didn’t notice that there were less stalls, but they did notice that they were more spread out, which they liked, as you could see the stalls instead of being overcrowded.

Question: Members asked how much it cost to have the Police and Fire Brigade at the market.

Response: It cost £5500 for the Fire Brigade, Police was £30,270 and Ambulance was £5000.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.