Councillors “very, very concerned” over Ty Pawb finances

Councillors have raised strong concerns about the finances of Wrexham’s arts and market hub run by the council – saying they ‘can’t stress enough how concerned we are with the figures and the finances’.

It comes after members of the employment, business and investment scrutiny committee were told that Ty Pawb was facing a projected annual budget pressure of around £280k, without mitigation actions.

At a meeting on Wednesday (10 January) Lead Member Hugh Jones called the papers before councillors a ‘comprehensive report, it’s 96 pages’ – something that was later ridiculed by Cllr Andy Gallanders who held up a wodge of 95 papers pointing out that the two pages in his other hand was the financial information – branding it a ‘little disappointing’.

As we reported the committee was looking at the finances of the council run centre, with a range of sixteen mitigations presented that are hoped to help plug financial gaps.

These include:-

• A review of Ty Pawb’s opening hours to ‘ensure effective financial programming”
• Conduct a market rent review to ensure Tŷ Pawb remains competitive in its approach
• Identify actions to reduce the carbon footprint and associated utility costs of Ty Pawb
• Dedicate increased marketing resource to venue hire across the organisation
• Convert the Maker Space into a rentable retail unit aimed at a creative business, in order to maximise rental income and streamline services
• Introduce a tiered charging framework for the Performance space
• Increase the number of specialist fairs (record fairs, craft fairs etc), which generate more table hire revenue and significant increase in footfall

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting Council Officer Amanda Davies led the responses to the committee, with a preamble noting that not all events held in the centre meant revenue hitting the bottom line – pointing to the recent fan zones and an emergency move of the Victorian Market that saved the event from succumbing to the weather.

Those examples were used to reenforce the wider point throughout the report and presentation to councillors that ‘Ty Pawb is more than just financial outputs, it provides so much more’ to Wrexham.

Cllr Marc Jones opened the questions stating he was asking them as a ‘critical friend’ and supported Ty Pawb generally but had concerns around the finances – a view echoed by many speakers at the meeting.

But he raised concerns about the budgetary pressures facing Ty Pawb and questioned the marketing and promotion of its events.

Cllr Jones said: “We’re looking at cuts in the funding for arts, they’re brutal at the moment.

“We’ve got an embedded cost of living crisis, which I don’t think is going away anytime soon.

“I fully accept that the social benefits of the arts are there. They’re understated and difficult to measure, but they’re there.

“I also accept that the arts are not there to make money. It’s why we pay taxes – its why we fund these institutions.

“But, unfortunately, we are going to have to focus on the funding to make sure that it stays open and it thrives.

“The shortfall is not sustainable, even with £200,000 Arts Council Wales support. I fear that the plan to have a working group to raise £20,000 when you’ve got a £288,000 shortfall is going to be inadequate.”

Energy cost increases at +£144k was a hot topic without any real solution, rather it just being compared to what households are experiencing themselves.

Commenting on the working group’s bid to raise £20k, Amanda Davies said: “You you didn’t feel that was enough, that was one of 16 mitigations. Some of the other mitigations are cost savings as well.

“So it’s not just a suggestion that it will only generate £20,000 savings, that’s just one of 16.

“We wanted to be realistic because what we don’t want to do is over promise, what we want to do is deliver what we say we will deliver.”

One ‘fact check’ emerged that the footfall figures are based on counters that cover the entire centre, so those using the car park are included in the overall data, but there was reference to internal sub-data that could identify a more precise split.

One counter was described as faulty, but overall there appeared confidence in the figures.

The Ty Pawb car park was described by the Officer as ‘bluntly, not fit for purpose’.

A range of issues were detailed including regular robbery of the barrier, with the issues clearly impacting into staff time let alone usage – and therefore revenue.

Ty Pawb’s boiler was also described as ‘not fit for purpose’, and linked to the £144k energy cost rise.

The roof was described as ‘leaking’, with a non-technical update given to councillors about previously patched areas on the flat roof now causing problems. Several site visits have taken place with a view to forming up options – and pricing – on how to resolve them.

Later councillors probing the figures were told that the revenue figures before them did include general repairs budgets, however large fixes for the significant issues were not budgeted for.

There was no indication from the Lead Member if budgets would be found, or where from, to resolve the large issues mentioned.

The 85% occupancy of trade space was praised, however when councillors poked about in the detail it emerged that not all traders were paying for that space due to ‘several reasons’ including problems with invoicing.

The meeting was told a group had been convened to ensure every trader would be ‘paying fully as required as per their contract’.

Questions on how much was due from trader rent during the financial year and how much was actually paid were not answered, but look likely to be provided to councillors at a future date.

Cllr Dana Davies asked a range of questions around the financials, citing the below table pointing to over a half million ‘subsidy’ from council budgets.

Cllr Davies pointed to the wider council budget problems: “The cash limited budget is increasing by half a million pounds over the next four years. Where is that political decision when we are looking at the deficit as an overall Council?

“We are going to be talking at the end of this month at Executive Board about stopping services and cutting services.

“We have got to be really, really critical here around the budget.”

Cllr Davies explained her interpretation of the figures – that would see £307k of the council ‘subsiding’ plus a shortfall of £283k budget shortfall meaning around a £600k figure in total in 2024-25, contrasted against the climate of other departments making significant cuts.

The Officer pointed out that the table was written if no mitigations took place, and that was the point of the work taking place, to reduce the deficit.

Cllr Davies appeared unhappy that the mitigations listed did not have a figure attributed to them and were ‘not reflected in projections’ adding “there’s a lot of questions here around your financial sustainability”.

Cllr Davies suggested any new operational plan be brought before the committee at ‘the earliest opportunity’.

As we reported in September Ty Pawb, along with Focus Wales, had secured what was thought to be firm grant funding from Arts Council Wales. The meeting was told that the portfolio status was firm, however due to Welsh Government cuts the Arts Council Wales budget had been reduced by 10.5% and therefore the final figure of grant funding was as yet unknown.

Any cuts to the Arts Council Wales grant would mainly affect the arts programme delivery, although a portion is used for centre overheads.

The final figure secured should be known next month.

As with other councillors, Cllr Davies was critical over the lack of detail on the financial figures and requested that a Task and Finish Group be convened to dig deeper into the numbers.

That wish was not ultimately granted, but could still be an option open towards the end of this financial year.

The Officers did point out that the summary figures were presented to avoid the meeting having to be held behind closed doors in a secret ‘Part 2’ session.

Cllr Andy Gallanders said: “The annual budget pressure is actually half a million pounds, can we afford to keep Ty Pawb in house?”.

Conspicuously there was no direct answer to that question amid the more precise answers given.

Cllr Gallanders was also concerned over the impact of the large £144k increase in energy bills, enquiring if that was being passed on to traders and affecting their viability.

The meeting was told that like most households, energy costs have increased for the centre as well, and have been passed on to traders proportionally.

Cllr Hugh Jones said: “What the £144k actually shows is what the increased energy cost is to the council after we’ve apportion those charges that people are individually responsible for.

“So the net impact of the of the energy increase due to the building effectively is £144k.”

Cllr Jeremy Kent observed that the make up of the Advisory Board was strong in some elements, however added “I don’t see within the the Advisory Board anyone with commercial background.

” I think the commercial element of the market is where actually we’re potentially not getting the money in, or making the most of that facility than we could be. I think possibly there being some more commercial minds on the board might help us achieve that.”

Lead Member Hugh Jones said he ‘absolutely agreed’,  adding: “I’ve made it absolutely clear that what Ty Pawb needs is commercial drive.

“It needs to be commercially driven. You’re absolutely right. Obviously in terms of the people who came forward to the Advisory Board, we are limited by those people who volunteer because obviously they give their time for nothing. You’re absolutely right though.”

Cllr Beryl Blackmore praised the arts output of Ty Pawb but said the market side was ‘lacking’, as well as specifically noting that she didn’t find the centre welcoming.

Again echoing previous meetings where brightening the entrances, or even suggestions from the Lead Member over painting the car park ramp, the Lead Member said he had picked up on similar issues ‘time and time again’.

In another groundhog moment the Lead Member also cited his annoyance at ‘out of date notices of events that happened months ago’ around the centre, problems that have been noted several times over the years.

One resident emailed a councillor during the meeting to ask if ‘RAAC‘ – reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete that has cause significant issues elsewhere – was a problem in Ty Pawb.

Cllr Hugh Jones said he was ‘not in a position to comment’ but as soon as information was available councillors would be updated.

The Chair of the Committee Tina Mannering summed up the general feeling from members, “I really, really support you and wish you well, you’ve got a really hard job to pull this together.

“The committee, we want to be 100% behind you. But, we’re also worried about the budget pressures. We are all worried about it. We hope we can work with you help you find a way forward. But, we are very, very concerned as a committee.”

Cllr Mannering added, “We hope we can work with you to help find a way forward. We are – and we can’t stress enough – how concerned we are with the figures and the finances.”

Cllr Gallanders recommended that a report should come back to the committee inside the next two months with more detailed financial figures for the 22-23 financial year, something that looks likely to take place behind closed doors due to the nature of the subject matter.