Ty Pawb
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Posts
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[quote]Liam– The Fourth Street Report projected car park receipts to be £159k. This was allowing for a charge of £4 for 2 hours, since that projection the Council have reduced the charges.
The projected income was £159k with overheads of £95k leaving a net income of £64k.
It remains to be seen if the final figure after the reduced tariffs will come in at £64k net income.[/quote]
Source for the above is https://moderngov.wrexham.gov.uk/documents/s4153/Appendix%201.pdf 3.6.8
To put some meat on the bones I placed an FOI requesting several revenue bits of info on income received April 1st 2018 to August 21st 2018 so a snapshot of rev info without context was provided in the response.
Car park was noted as £59,250 for that 4.5ish months – although I have been told the cost of running the car park is lower than expected. Going by the above it seems its pretty much on target as per the plan, but if costs are lower, should mean a brucie bonus.
I have had it confirmed that the £12.5k rent from the police for the old gallery is going over, however there does not seem to be the rent for the mobile mast.
South Arcade shops have been paying rent (£24.3k),with Exhibitions seeing rev of £2k, Shop of £10.7k , ticketed events of £1.5k and venue hire of £4.2k.
Comparing it to the original plan seems pointless at the moment as it is clear to me that has been adjusted, as you would expect with any developing new business with some being quite happy that targets are being met and things looking up.
Hopefully any new plan is made public along with any discussions, it is worth remembering the only reason we have the old plan to refer to is it was accidentally leaked to all local, regional and national media (but for some reason only one outlet published contents) and even then there was an attempt to still discuss it in Part 2.
Rob like any set of incomplete figures you can read into them in many ways-
Car Parking – part of the erevenue increase has probably come about due to the St Marks Car Park closing and using Ty Pawb as the alternative- clearly the current issues at St Marks is likely to keep people moving to Ty Pawb or alternative locations – but what will happen if St Marks is refurbished and the homeless removed.
The expenditure projection to bring Ty Pawb up to the Car Park Quality Mark with lighting, security etc. was estimated at over £250k five years ago– how much longer can this go on without significant investment — where will the funding coming from as the revenue is actually already going into revenue expenditure on Ty Pawb.
A significant question to ask is – Is it correct that the income the Council are generating from monthly and seasonal tickets is all being regarded as income for Ty Pawb? This is having an effect on income generated at other car parks- the method being used to put all these monthlies to one space is distorting the actual use- would this carry on if a Trust was to take over or would the monthly income then be moved to Library or Waterworld Car Parks.Police Station Rental — if the £12,500 you have stated is correct is must be the cheapest site in Wrexham that has exclusive car parking for 20+ vehicles — private car parking spaces in Wrexham normally go for £750 upwards and the equivalent office floor space would be £20k plus — good of the Council to have such a cosy relationship with the Police that they have given the old Oriel away to them!!
Exhibition revenue of £2k – interesting one this as all free to enter – so presume it is someone paying to get something exhibited. The Council have however then had to pay for the early removal of the art exhibition die to the water leak in the gallery.
Shop – £10.7 – I’m assuming that this is total revenue not profit- what is the real figure if income and staffing costs were put together — how much would it be in the red!
Ticket events £1.5k that is way below the projects in the Business Plan
Venue Hire — is that actually cash in the bank or what they are hoping to generate? How much are they charging other internal Departments for the use of space? How much is actually new activity or organisations who have moved from another location i.e. Community Choir have moved with a loss of income to previous location.
Rob– You say comparing it to the original plan seems pointless at the moment as it is clear that has been adjusted.
Nevertheless, the Council made the decision to go ahead with this, based on the report of Fourth Street. Now that income seems to not come up to expectations, I wonder if the expenditure has reduced also.
The Council and Cllr. Hugh Jones sold this to the town,I believe we were led up the garden path.
The following infomation is from the Arts Council- make your own assumption about how much is ‘spin’ to cover their involvment.
Andrew Richards
Pennaeth Datblygu BusnesFfôn: 029 2044 1361 / 07964 689023
Head of Business Development
Tel: 029 2044 1361 / 07964 689023
Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru
Plas Bute, Caerdydd CF10 5AL
http://www.celf.cymruArts Council of Wales
Bute Place, Cardiff CF10 5AL
http://www.arts.walesRydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg, ni fydd gohebu drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi.
We welcome correspondences in Welsh and English, corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay.To Chief Executive and Chair Arts Council of Wales
I am writing to you about the serious concerns that residents in Wrexham have about the fiasco that is developing in Wrexham over the running of Ty Pawb. On the current information that is in circulation it is quite apparent the place is haemorrhaging money at an estimated average rate of £10k a week since opening based on actual bankable receipts the Council have received..
In the original Business Plan for Ty Pawb it was stated that Arts Council would put in over £130k a year revenue funding. Clearly based on the current estimated losses through contractual issues with stall holders, lost revenue from the Police Mast, Car Park income totally slashed your £130k is doing to be nothing but straight down the nearest grid.
1. I am making a request about what level of revenue funding the Arts Council are providing for 2018/19 and for 2019/20?
Arts Council of Wales has offered a grant of £120,000 for 2018/19 (this is the amount budgeted within the forecasts). We have not yet made an allocation for 2019/20 as the vast majority of Lottery grants are made on a one year basis. The Gallery will reapply for future years’ funding as part of our standard procedures.
2. What level of concern do you have about this project and what rating have you given it as a there is such a large amount of capital investment?
The first 6 months of opening have seen a large amount of positive press for the project as well as the articles that you have highlighted. Articles such as the one in the Observer/Guardian here highlight the positive press that Wrexham is getting outside of the area and that hopefully will attract visitors and spend to the area. This was a key element of the thinking behind the development and appears to have made people look at Wrexham as a place that is trying to do things differently to attract people and income to the area.
We don’t have a rating system as such and feel that a project of this scale needs time before we can really see the impact that it has had.
3. What support are the Arts Council providing the Ty Pawb Staff about the programme of events etc. taking place or not as there is limited community engagement with the arts?
Arts Council officers work with the staff at Ty Pawb in developing applications for funding as part of our regular procedures and these conversations will include discussions around community engagement. Participation is one of Ty Pawb’s strengths and daily events during the Summer holidays are a good example of this.
4. What level of funding has been requested to compensate for the loss of the recent exhibition due to water ingress into the building?
We have had no request for funding for this. The building is owned and managed by the local authority and its officers will be better placed to discuss any areas related to it.
5. The Council are still saying they are working on the original Business Plan submitted to the Arts Council which clearly is no longer fit for purpose- have you received a revised Business Plan?
The financial elements of the original Business plan were revised around 6 months before the opening of the building (again as part of the standard requirements for our funded capital projects). A business plan is a live document and we would not expect to see it revised every time a change in circumstance takes place. We have not therefore received a revised version
6. If this project turns out to be a disaster that requires closure due to mismanagement and incorrect funding information would the Arts Council seek a repayment from the Council?
We do not believe this will be the case , but our standard procedures allow us to reclaim funding from organisations should they cease to operate in the way described at the application stage. This would be a very unusual circumstance as we would aim to work with the local authority to make sure that the building works for the people of Wrexham
The following are just a few of the links to the information that is readily in the public domain and other media sources.
https://www.wrexham.com/forums/topic/ty-pawb-very-disappointed
https://www.wrexham.com/forums/topic/ty-pawb-very-disappointed
Based on all of these issues it is in the public interest for the Arts Council to make a statement about their involvement and understanding of what is happening as it appears that at present you are condoning all that is happening as there has been statement made.
Are the public likely to hear from you shortly?
At present we do not have any intention to make a public statement. We feel the project is in its early stages of development and has received a great deal of positive press along with some other more negative articles. This often happens with projects and in most instances any initial problems will iron themselves out without any further intervention. Ty Pawb has had some excellent visitor and participation numbers to date and we hope that this continues and that it continues to attract new visitors that would otherwise have not visited the area.
I think it’s a massive slap in the face that Derek (or whoever wrote it) made a massive effort to raise issues that are of great concern to a large number of Wrexham residents – to be completely fobbed off.
All I can say is they’re going to need a bloody big iron in this instance. Also goes to show that as long as these public officials receive their hefty pay cheques they couldn’t give 2 hoots about when things go wrong and the impact they have on local communities. It is shambolic that with such a poor launch they have no inputs on how they can help improve things and are just in complete denial that the sky is falling.
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