Ken Harrison, one of only a handful of members of the public to attend the annual town meeting in the Angel Suite, made a call for greater publicity to be afforded to events in Brigg, such as the forthcoming TSW car rally.
He suggested an electronic device was needed and mentioned the Market Place as a suitable location.
Coun Jane Kitching said Brigg Town Business Partnership had looked at electronic devices of this kind but found the cost very, very expensive.
Coun Ann Eardley thought stores like Lidl, Tesco and Brigg Garden Centre could help publicise events.
Town Mayor Coun Edward Arnott said the council would love to hear of new ways of spreading the word.
My concerns were plural - I was concerned that the TC has not properly assessed the benefits of the new installed Crimbo lights before agreeing to spend a further £27k on a Phase 2 scheme of extending them towards Queens Street, particularly when it represented a substantial amount of money being focused upon a limited six week festive period and when there appeared to other priorities from which the town could benefit.
ReplyDeleteI accepted that the old Crimbo lights needed replacing, but from what I heard as an observing member of the public at other BTC meetings, it seemed that Phase 2 emerged as a result of 'some people expressing how nice the new lights looked' and 'some retailers asking if the lights could be extended to the White Horse' - emotional expressions that, to me, appeared to lack objective analysis for the greater benefit of the town.
I suggested that many activities happen in Brigg, such as the TSW Car Rally and Briggstock, but there appears to be a lack of promotion for these events as we tend to rely very much on posters and word of mouth. I even offered the common observation that Brigg folk and others weren't aware of an event until after it happened.
I argued that a Brigg town priority could be an electronic scrolling display board (or several) promoting and reminding folk and town visitors of forthcoming events - Farmers' Markets - Riverside Festival - etc....
Cllr Jane Kitchen did express that such devices are 'very, very expensive', but I was not talking about multi-thousand pound devices, just simple scrolling screens costing about £400 for a single line scroll to about £1500 for a 4/5 line display.
Some councillors debated that the town already has 'Brigg Blog', the magazine, 'Brigg Matters' and the BTC has a sophisticated web-site to advertise such events.
My concern is that not all folk access/ are aware, for example, of 'Brigg Blog' and unless town-folk have a photographic memory, the diary of events, times and dates, contained in 'Brigg Matters' are easily humanly forgotten.
What appeared to be forgotten was that Brigg events needed the support of outsiders - ie those folks from Brigg's hinterland's catchment area and visitors from further afield, but the alleged promotional devices of 'Brigg Blog', 'Brigg Matters' and etc are specifically focused upon Brigg....so where does shopper visiting Brigg from Doncaster get to know about a forthcoming Farmers' Market, or the date and time of Briggstock?
I don't agree with another councillor's remarks that BTC is not responsible for advertising such 'private' events.
Given that some councillors believe that 'Brigg Blog' et al are the main promotional methods advertising Brigg and council activities, together with the claims that the BTC Public Meeting was highlighted on 'Brigg Blog' and on the BTC's notice board, 'but public attendance was still poor', to me raises a number of issues. For example, has the Council objectively measured how many folk use 'Brigg Blog', or indeed, know where BTC's notice board is located?
My suggestion of an electronic notice board could actually promote 'Brigg Blog's' existence and direct folk to the site.
Finally, I felt that my suggestion of such a promotional device was new to many councillors, which itself questions how many of BTC councillors regularly visit 'Brigg Blog' as I have often mentioned the lack of promotion for significant Brigg events and have specifically mentioned the need for an electronic display screen a number of times - the debate has been going on for years and the Council should realistically be aware of such concerns.
Ps I must add that the £27k includes an annual fee of £10k for 'stress testing the installation' of the Crimbo lights.
ReplyDelete.....and finally, finally....
ReplyDeleteAccepting the need to replace Brigg's old Crimbo lights, where in the Brigg Community-Led Plan, which was promoted and is officially accepted as guideline of public concerns and priorities, does it express the need to spend further monies in extending such lights, when concerns re 'the lack of public awareness/publicity/promotion' of Brigg events was expressed a number of times by members of the public?