Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    The UK’s first National Marine Park had helped young adults and families build confidence and explore the coast. Volunteers had gained a sense of purpose, community, and well-being. Local groups to national organisations shared the mission to celebrate the park;

b)    Completed major works at Tinside Lido;

c)    More than 2,000 people took part in activities at Tinside Lido in 2025;

d)    A contractor had been secured for Mount Batten Pontoon;

e)    The process had begun of protecting the heritage of garden battery centre for future generations, and the Panel were encouraged to do a site visit before and after the works;

f)     Extraordinary achievements for nature recovery:

              i.        A stingray nursery;

             ii.        A seahorse conservation program;

            iii.        Sea grass development;

g)    Rangers were committed to raise awareness and led the programmes;

h)    In 2025 the National Marine Park had:

              i.        Reached over 4,000 Residents through Meet the Park program;

             ii.        Celebrated 12,156 Volunteer hours;

            iii.        Engaged 970 school children through the “sea in our school” sessions;

            iv.        Enabled 350 people to get onto the water at Mount Batten;

             v.        12,000 people visited Seafest;

            vi.        4 million social media impressions;

          vii.        Over 20,000 website users;

         viii.        First community access weekend welcomed 1,341 people;

           ix.        Invested in translation, sensory adjustments, changing places facilities and accessible design;

            x.        Through Blue Sparks doubled community grant funding;

i)     In 2026 the National Marine Park would:

i)             Launch the ‘Stay Salty Nature Campaign’;

ii)            Open the new Mount Batten Centre;

iii)           New digital experiences;

iv)           Launch a new website;

v)            Support the delivery of the first Blue Sparks community project;

vi)           Continue to build the long-term legacy after the horizon’s project.

j)     2026 would be the year of growing impact.

Kat Deeney (Head of Environmental Planning) added:

k)    The team were working hard to ensure they took the marine park to people to engage with a wider and more inclusive audience;

l)      Looked at ways to engage as many different people with different interests as possible through different partnerships:

                      i.        Ocean Conservation Trust;

                     ii.        Plymouth Active Leisure;

                    iii.        Mount Batten Centre;

                    iv.        Plymouth Culture;

                     v.        More local organisations and groups through Blue Sparks program;

                    vi.        Digital projects;

                  vii.        Volunteer work from home.

Elaine Hayes (CEO of the National Marine Park) added:

m)  It was important as the charity moved forward, to find more innovative and sustainable ways to raise funds;

n)    Development projects included:

                   i.                Skilled audits to understand gaps;

                  ii.                 

                 iii.                Working with the National Marine Park alliance which would work with the campaign for national parks;

                 iv.                Over 1,000 people who routinely followed the newsletter and attended webinars:

                  v.                Created a National Marine Park handbook to get feedback from the people of the community;

                 vi.                 

                vii.                Grew the impact of non-statutory marine interventions;

              viii.                Shared coastal communities through the all-part parliamentary group on coastal communities;

                ix.                Looked at the roll of Marine Parks in place-based regeneration and how those  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications), supported by Emma Wilson (Head of Regeneration and Growth), Victoria Pomery (CEO of The Box) and James McKenzie-Blackman (Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Plymouth) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)    Regeneration work focused on linking physical redevelopment with cultural placemaking;

b)    Signed a new long-term partnership with Homes England with two large strategic investments in Bath Street and the Civic Centre valued at over £33 million;

c)    Homes England made numerous strategic acquisitions in the city centre from north of Armada Way and around Mayflower Street;

d)    The Council had taken the Civic Centre back as a direct development assembling over £36 million external grants;

e)    Shortlisted by the Governments new towns task force to create over 10,000 new homes;

f)     Appointed WSP to undertake 12-month process of establishing a new city centre living framework who had world class expertise;

g)    There was a bid to become the City of Culture;

h)    There was a long track record of delivery in the city centre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Drake Circus, the Barcode, the Box, and the Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC);

i)     Reintroducing city living back into Plymouth City Centre for the first time since Abercrombie zoned it out;

j)     Plan would remain the same for a new town plan if not acquired the new town designation;

k)    How culture had been the driving force for what make Plymouth a great place to live and work.

l)     The economic impact from the Theatre Royal Plymouth;

                             i.                Had contributed £53.3 million to the local economy;

                            ii.                Over 15,000 people a week attended the theatre and contributed to economic growth through hotels, restaurants and nighttime economy;

m)  The Box had an economic and social impact in Plymouth:

                            i.                More than 1.1 million had visited The Box;

                           ii.                £240 million contribution to the local economy;

                          iii.                13% of the audience had never been to The Box or any other form of cultural organisation;

                          iv.                It had hosted exhibitions like Beryl Cook, which had been very popular;

                           v.                Interest from BBC do a One Show segment on the Beryl Cook exhibition, as well as other national news coverage;

                          vi.                Had worked with TR2 and Cast locally on the development of the Beryl sculptures that had appeared in the city.

n)    An update on the Civic Centre:

                             i.                144 homes would be delivered in the main tower;

                            ii.                The basement and podium of the building would include a new blue green skills hub for the city college and would have 60 courses and support around 2,000 learners every year;

                           iii.                A £36 million grant funding package had been secured;

                           iv.                £18.4 million from investment funding from government partners like Palmes England;

                            v.                The Civic Centre had undergone the removal of all asbestos and over 30 surveys had been carried out on the buildings structure;

                           vi.                The next step would be the upcoming submission of the planning application;

o)    Assurance on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

Councillor Jemima Laing (Deputy Leader, and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) introduced the item, supported by Hannah Harris (CEO of Plymouth Culture), Paul Fieldsend-Danks (Vice Chancellor, Arts University Plymouth) and Amanda Lumley (CEO of Destination Plymouth), and highlighted:

a)    2025 had been an incredibly successful year on several fronts for Destination Plymouth and the represented partner organisations;

b)    Working with partners across the city had successfully led the re-imagination of the city brand and creation of the new Brand Strategy, narratives, and visuals for the city. The plans for 2030 were progressing effectively across all the different project areas;

c)    Plymouth had held many events that had reached more global audiences which had been shared by millions on social media:

                          i.                Reached 596,356 million people online that had seen the Rolls-Royce in Tinside;

                         ii.                Red bull’s Mast event took place in the Barbican;

                       iii.                Pirates weekend was seen by 526,868 million people;

                       iv.                In June, the Beryl Cook exhibition announcement was viewed by 711,382 million people;

d)    In 2023, an expansion had been undertaken on Plymouths broader city marketing and place branding.

e)    A focus was on improving perceptions for residents, visitors, students, and investors;

f)      Activity of Plymouth Culture, the National Marine Park, the City Council and Business improvement districts were unified into one coherent high impact program;

g)    Brand work was launched on October 2025 after positive community engagement, received strong media response and early digital attraction:

                          i.                In just 8 weeks, over 200 people accessed the brand site;

                         ii.                Initial social media launch had over 200,000 views;

h)    The brand was being actively adopted across city infrastructure, including CityBus electric fleet and major civic hoardings;

i)     The visuals were used by a variety of different companies:

i)             Babcock used it for their Devon port open days;

ii)            Princess Yacht had featured them in their 60^th anniversary film;

iii)           The University of Plymouth had used it for their visioning documents for the city;

iv)           Arts University Plymouth had used it for their marketing materials;

j)     Culture brand strategy had launched a new city of culture bid;

k)    Plymouth’s new Culture’s new creative industry plan which was formally adopted by the City Council;

l)     Digital marketing was significantly boosted:

                                 i.                Combined social media following for the brand had passed 160,000 people;

                                ii.                Content had been viewed over 41 million times;

                               iii.                Visit Plymouth attracted over 700,000 new users and 2-million-page views;

                               iv.                Public Relations activity achieved 2.1 billion opportunities with an advertising value that is equivalent of over £53.6 million;

m)  Key partnerships included cruise work and the South West visitor economy hub;

n)    2025 Cruise season had had:

                                i.                15 ships visit Plymouth with over 15,000 passengers and crew;

                               ii.                Bookings secured through to 2029;

                             iii.                There was significant contribution from crew ambassador volunteers;

o)    The South West visitor economy hub had:

                                i.                A £500,000 funded project which had been supported by all local authorities across Devon and Somerset;

                               ii.                Provided the daily  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

a)    A proposal was put forward regarding an additional meeting, prior to April 2026, to look at the hospitality sector and how the Council might be able to support but it was agreed officers would provide clarity on the impact the Council could have on this issue and an agreement would be met with the Chair.

The work programme document was noted.

The Panel noted its action log.