Issue - meetings

Rafal Hejne, Interim Head of Organisational Development introduced the report to update the Cabinet on the work of the officers and external partners.  The work has been delivered at an accelerated pace, he introduced Chris Carey, Development surveyor and Rachel Kuhn, of BOP Consulting.  He highlighted that the work was data driven and a Member Steering Group had been set up to guide the work. He confirmed the main reports were included in the appendices, the property report and the cultural landscape report. The latter had been produced by BOP Consulting, a renowned consultancy in the arts and entertainment sector.  The reports and site surveys are available on the engagement hub. He thanked Cllr Bennett for her questions about the reports and confirmed he had responded to the Member.

The Leader welcomed Rachel Kuhn and thanked her for her work on the project to date. The Leader confirmed he had shared Cllr Bennett’s questions with the Cabinet. 

The Cabinet Member for Community acknowledged the work completed to date, noted the threemodels offered in the report and added that the Council must make the valuable site work hard for the town for more than daylight hours.  He noted there was little mention of the Chequer Mead Theatre in East Grinstead in the initial consultation. He requested more details of the subsidy offered on an annual basis to the Depot in Lewes and an overview of the state of the sector post and pre-pandemic.   The Interim Head of Organisational Development advised the subsidy received by the Depot from local donors is significant and they are trying to get more information.  These facilities are usually heavily subsidised, or donor funded.  The Consultant advised pre-pandemic some cultural facilities were flourishing, and they had been working with clients on innovating projects; some projects have since been halted. Cultural facilities are now working hard to capture funding and are now facing new challenges i.e., fatigue, inflation, cost of living. It is not so favourable to secure funding for sites that require activation.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Growthnoted the difficult times but felt that there are still clients looking for investment opportunities.  He congratulated the officers and partners for the work to date.  The Council he said, is committed to full utilisation of the site and Haywards Heath should have provision for cultural and leisure activities.

The Cabinet Member for Leisure and Parking expressed a concern that a wider cultural community than Haywards Heath must be considered.  Planning housing developments should also be included in the data used to inform the multi-use facility and queried whether the Council is looking for a single or a group of investors.  In response the Interim Head of Organisational Development advised the data from the recent census will be used to determine trends and predict the future, the  next steps will focus on gathering market feedback to identify opportunities, including potential sources of investment.  Obtaining information on the market from complimentary sectors should ensure the future proposal has  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6