Section 3: Council Activities

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Recreation and Events

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Responsibility

Brent Thawley (Manager Recreation and Events)

Description of service

The core business of the Recreation and Events activity is to manage the following:

Aquatic recreation – Todd Energy Aquatic Centre and district pools (Waitara, Inglewood, Okato and Fitzroy Beach).
Community recreation programmes and events, including the TSB Bank Festival of Lights, the Fireworks Spectacular and the Taranaki Daily News Home and Lifestyle Expo.
Multi-purpose recreation and entertainment venues – TSB Bowl of Brooklands, TSB Showplace, TSB Stadium and Yarrow Stadium.

Scale of service

This describes the size and scope of the activity.

Five community swimming pool complexes.
Four major recreation and entertainment venues (TSB Stadium, Yarrow Stadium, TSB Bowl of Brooklands and TSB Showplace).
Provision of both reoccurring and ad hoc entertainment, sporting and recreational programmes, events and services including the TSB Bank Festival of Lights and other community events.

Rationale for activity

Recreation and Events, including the provision of free events, is a major contributor to the district’s quality of life, which in turn helps make the district attractive to existing and prospective residents and businesses. Recreational facilities provide a secure and healthy place to participate in a wide range of recreational activities in a safe and enjoyable environment. Major events help attract visitors to the district, thereby contributing to the economic well-being of the district. The cultural well-being of the district is promoted through the provision of community events which enhance the range of cultural activities available. A vibrant recreation and events schedule also makes the district more attractive to potential migrants.

There is no legal requirement for the Council to be involved in the provision of recreation, events or event venues. However, the Local Government Act 2002 defines the purpose of local government as to “…promote the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and for the future”.

The primary objective of the Recreation and Events activity is to contribute to social, cultural and economic community well-being by providing high quality and affordable recreation and entertainment opportunities, which help create a vibrant and healthy community. Events attract visitors to the district and this in turn assists the wider business community. Recreation and Event venues help make this an attractive district in which to live and work which is an important factor in stimulating a prosperous economy.

Recreation and Events is governed by Part 6 of New Plymouth District Council Bylaw 2008, Recreational and Cultural Facilities. The bylaw gives the Council the power to charge fees for specialised services and to pass rules for minimising nuisance behaviour at Council venues. Some behaviour rules also relate to Part 5 of the bylaw, which concerns public places.

The Council provides venues and recreation services that the private sector is not in a position to supply. These include events that require subsidising or programmes that the private sector cannot afford to provide, because of the scale or the risk involved. The Council delivers these services because it believes that these venues and events deliver the desired community outcomes.

Contribution to Community Outcomes

Recreation and Events primarily contributes to the Vibrant Community Outcome. It does this by providing a wide range of locally accessible exciting leisure, sport and entertainment opportunities for residents and visitors to the district.

Vibrant

A district that provides high-quality and diverse cultural and recreational experiences and where independence and creativity are encouraged.

V1 People have access to, and are encouraged to participate in, a wide range of high quality recreational, leisure, art and cultural activities.

V2 The region has high-quality public amenities and facilities.

V4 All people have access to local services and facilities.

V6 Support and celebrate all cultures.

Recreation and Events also makes a significant contribution to the Prosperous Community Outcome by providing a range of amenities and experiences which make the district an attractive place to live, work and visit. It also contributes to the Secure and Healthy and Together Community Outcomes by providing a range of recreation and leisure amenities, experiences and facilities which allow people free or low-cost access to physical activities.

Negative impacts on community well-being

From time to time events have negative impacts on sectors of the community. These include:

Noise from events. All events are managed within existing resource consent conditions.
Inconvenience caused by road closures. All road closures are approved by the Council after the community has been notified and consulted.
Inappropriate behaviour, such as vandalism or alcohol related incidents. The Council works closely with the district’s police to manage this and ensures adequate controls are in place to manage these risks.
Facility maintenance closures. These may mean inconvenience for some residents and businesses. The Council works closely with the community to ensure minimum disruption.
Increased usage of the venues in turn results in wear and tear and a subsequent rise in maintenance costs.

Facing the challenges – assumptions and risks

Assumptions

That there will be an appropriate mix of free and ticketed events contributing to social and cultural well-being as well as significant economic benefits, including supporting the Taranaki brand and promoting New Plymouth District as a quality lifestyle choice.

Risks

The growth of event procurement strategies by other Councils may affect our capability to retain the current event schedule. Obtaining funding for all events from possible sponsors may also affect the current schedule and any future developments.
Align dependency on a buoyant domestic economy to pay for community events and the continual ability for the venue to maintain and provide the level of infrastructure to stage bigger technical productions, e.g. Festival of Lights, fireworks etc.
The success in attracting international events is dependent on a series of assumptions, including a buoyant economic climate and positive exchange rates.
Reduction in commercial use of venues may result in increased dependency on rates support.
Demand placed on venues by the community seeking a high level of subsidy will result in lower income.

Todd Energy Aquatic Centre is working to a high capacity. User fees and programmes will aim to maintain a steady state of use, however this too is somewhat driven by the state of the economy and dependent on household discretionary income.
Yarrow Stadium is particularly financially vulnerable as it is heavily reliant on the success of Taranaki rugby and the willingness of other professional sports organisations such as the Hurricanes franchise to allocate matches to Taranaki. Strategies are in place to develop commercial business in all of the venues. Rugby World Cup has reduced the Taranaki season in the 2011/12 year.

Managing risks

Ongoing relationships with key/major promoters within Australasia and the USA will be managed proactively to keep our entertainment venues at the forefront of tour planning. Sponsorship funding will be managed in conjunction with event scheduling.
Attracting funding and sponsorship to support events continues to be a focus.
The Council have developed a ‘Major Events Strategy 2010’ which seeks to manage the risks relating to procuring international events whilst positioning the district to capitalise on key opportunities.
Event venue business plans will identify the risk of a reduction in commercial usage and identify cost saving strategies to minimise the level of rates support required.
Business planning for the venues will continue to identify commercial activity to ensure community users’ costs will be maintained at an affordable level whilst still keeping operations economic.
Fees and charges are reviewed annually with business development initiatives being identified to keep the pools affordable and highly utilised.
Strategies are in place to develop commercial business in all of the venues, more particularly business development strategy contained within Yarrow’s business plan. This plan includes continual research into national stadium trends, sports code requirements and trends in the entertainment sector.

Levels of service and performance measures

The following levels of service and performance measures outline the objectives we will set and how we will measure our progress.

Service objective	Related Community Outcome(s)	Performance measures	Performance targets
Service objective	Related Community Outcome(s)	Performance measures	2010/11	2011/12
All pools continue to be utilised at the current high levels of patronage.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Number of visitors utilising pools.	300,000	300,000
TSB Bowl of Brooklands attracts a high number of attendees.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Number of attendees.	57,000	57,000
TSB Showplace attracts a high number of attendees.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Number of attendees.	51,000	51,000
Yarrow Stadium attracts an increasing number of attendees.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Number of attendees.	70,000	80,000
Provide a varied range of quality recreation and entertainment opportunities throughout the year for the residents of, and visitors to, the district.	Vibrant 1, 2 4 & 6 Together 1, 2 & 4	Number of events hosted by TSB Bowl of Brooklands: International events. Community events.	4 2	4 2
		Number of sports events hosted by Yarrow Stadium: National events. International events.	8 2	8 2
		Number of events hosted by TSB Showplace.	130	130
		Number of sports events hosted by TSB Stadium: National events. Community user events.	8 200	8 200
Manage aquatic centre and pools to a high standard of safety.	Secure and Healthy 2 Vibrant 1 & 2	Retention of Poolsafe Accreditation - NZS5826 compliant.	Poolsafe Accreditation retained	Poolsafe Accreditation retained
		Water quality meets compliance requirements of NZS5826.	Compliance retained	Compliance retained
		Retention of current certification level in life guarding and first aid: All staff qualified in first aid. All lifeguard and learn to swim instructors with NZ Pool and Lifeguard award.	Retain current certification level in life guarding and first aid	Retain current certification level in life guarding and first aid
		Retention of current level of certification with all emergency response equipment.	100% retained	100% retained
All venues are managed to a high level of safety.	Secure and Healthy 2 Vibrant 1 & 2	Percentage of staff maintain current competency in first aid.	100% maintained	100% maintained
All venues are managed to a high level of safety.	Secure and Healthy 2 Vibrant 1 & 2	Percentage of staff maintain current competency with all emergency response equipment.	100% maintained	100% maintained
Ensure a high level of customer satisfaction with the events delivered.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Number of residents satisfied with the quality and availability of events (NRB survey).	At least 95% (including ‘don’t know’ responses)	At least 95% (including ‘don’t know’ responses)
Ensure a high level of visitor satisfaction with the Festival of Lights.	Vibrant 1, 2 & 4	Percentage of visitors are satisfied with the Festival of Lights.	90%	90%

FINANCIAL PLAN	LTCCP 2011/12 ($000)	Budget 2011/12 ($000)
OPERATIONS
Activity expenditure
Pools	3,678	3,803
Programmes and events	2,288	1,470
Event venues	3,368	6,696
Total activity expenditure	9,334	11,969

Activity revenue
Pools	(1,230)	(1,294)
Programmes and events	(1,041)	(475)
Event venues	(824)	(3,084)
Total activity revenue	(3,095)	(4,853)

Net cost of operations	6,239	7,116

Appropriations and reserves
Depreciation unfunded/deferred	0	(421)
Transfer from reserves	0	(155)
Total appropriations and reserves	0	(576)

RATES REQUIREMENT FOR OPERATIONS	6,239	6,540

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
Total renewals	1,146	1,121
Total improvements	72	41
Total capital expenditure	1,218	1,162

Total capital funding	0	0

Net cost of capital activities	1,218	1,162

Appropriations and reserves
Transfer from depreciation reserves	(1,146)	(1,121)
Total appropriations and reserves	(1,146)	(1,121)

FUNDING REQUIREMENT FOR CAPITAL	72	41

RATES AND FUNDING REQUIREMENT
Rates requirement for operations	6,239	6,540
Funding requirement for capital	72	41
TOTAL RATES AND FUNDING REQUIREMENT	6,311	6,581