Agenda item

Purpose: To update the Commission on the preparations being made in West Berkshire to celebrate the Olympics.

The Commission received a verbal report (Agenda Item 8) updating it on preparations for the Olympic torch relay through West Berkshire, and activities taking place within the district as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Chris Jones initially explained that he would be collating information later in the year relating to both aspects of the Olympic celebrations in West Berkshire, and intended to report on the economic impact and benefits seen within the district.

Chris Jones informed the Commission of a number of events that took place across West Berkshire recently relating to the Cultural Olympiad.  A series of events had been undertaken as part of ‘The Berkshire Giant’ project.  Over the preceding week this had involved three community celebrations as well as a ‘Giants trail’, a community fair, and poetry and film workshops.  Chris Jones reported that thousands of adults and children had taken part or attended and extremely positive feedback had been received. 

A poetry event had also taken place at the Watermill Theatre involving schools, cub groups, young people with special needs, older people with Alzheimer’s, community groups and private sector groups, who took part in a writing workshop to create original poetry based on the Olympic motto ‘Higher, Faster, Stronger’.  The poems would be displayed on a poetry trail in the grounds of the theatre until September.

With regard to the Olympic torch relay, Chris Jones reported the following:

·        A full event plan had been finalised and approved by Corporate Board.  Every conceivable eventuality had been considered, including road closures, the safe movement of large numbers of young people, crowd safety and missing children, and had been well received by the Thames Valley Resilience Forum;

·        The plan had been tested through a multi-agency desk top exercise and all learning from this had been incorporated;

·        The plan included information on how to deal with extreme weather, and this information would be made available to staff, schools and stewards;

·        Steward training was underway and the required number of volunteers was expected to be achieved;

·        The process would be evaluated following the event for lessons to be learned.

Councillor Rendel asked for details of the costs associated with the district hosting the torch relay and associated events.  Councillor Carol Jackson-Doerge replied that where other organisations were providing volunteers or events, the costs were absorbed by those organisations; for West Berkshire Council, the cost of volunteers was limited to staff time.  Councillor Rendel queried whether volunteers were being reimbursed for travel expenses to attend training in Newbury.  Chris Jones responded that they were not, however if there were sufficient numbers, a training session would be scheduled for the East of the district for those based further away.

The Cultural Olympiad programme was to be delivered as part of normal business.  To achieve this, the Arts and Leisure Service budget had a commissioning budget of £30,000 which was being used to commission work with local groups.  A further £20,000 had been allocated for infrastructure.  Councillor Hilary Cole informed the Commission that when LOCOG had been invited to bring the Olympic torch to West Berkshire, there had been an understanding that there would be no cost to West Berkshire, however since then it had become apparent that in order to maintain public safety, a sum of £20,000 would be required.  Nick Carter confirmed that this sum had been agreed after the Council’s budget setting process in March, and had been allocated to the civil contingencies budget for day to day management.

Councillor Jeff Beck asked what media plans were in place to forewarn communities about the disruption that would occur on 11 July, but also on 10 July when the torch relay would be in Reading.  Chris Jones responded that it was recognised that torch activity occurring close to the Council’s borders would have an effect on West Berkshire communities and communication plans had accounted for this.  Communication routes would include social media, leaflet drops to houses en route and talking to ShopWatch.  Local bus companies were making their own arrangements.  There was a possibility that the overhead matrix signs on the M4 and A34 could be used.

The Chairman recognised the quantity of work required to manage a project of this size and thanked Chris Jones for his role.  Councillor Cole commented that the amount of work undertaken was exceptional for an event that would be just a few hours long.