MORE MONEY GOES UP THE WALL!

In July, Kieran Quinn told us that The Royal Mail was the lifeblood of the country and was vital for keeping Tameside’s economy flowing.

 

Now we’re told the key to Tameside’s long-term economic success is in its young people!

Whilst wondering on what our economic stability will rest next month, I can confidently predict that it will not be Ashton’s Christmas Market!

If you have ever harboured doubts about our council’s economic credibility, one only needs to look at how council bosses are throwing away thousands on the funding of Ashton’s first dedicated Christmas Market.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think a Christmas Market in Tameside is a step in the right direction, but when you look at the way the council have decided to fund it, well, I'll leave it to you to comment.

One may have read that Tameside council have arranged for 50 or so Tameside college students to help manufacture 30 log cabin style chalets, which will form the main selling arena for the 14 day Christmas Market.

What the Press Release does not tell you is that the council has apportioned £69,500 to buy the materials needed to build these cabins; the thought being that they can then be used in future years and at other times and in Tameside’s other town centres. (Confirmed in council's own minuted meeting)

TAMESIDE'S ECONOMIC STRATEGY IS CRACKERS!

Alternatively, if the council had ‘hired’ the cabins they would have cost £450 each for a 2 week period (30 x £450 = £13,500). And if the council had placed an average ‘Christmas Market’ fee to rent these prime selling spaces, the council would have made a £15,900 profit to fund other aspects of the event, like promotion and up-grading the entertainment package.

However, the council have only placed a total rental fee of £200 per unit, for the duration of the event. Therefore this will only bring in £6000. And this money, according to the council, will apparently be used to fund some of the ‘extensive programme of entertainment’ that they say will be a key feature of this event!

Now if this £63,500 loss is not bad enough, there are other hidden charges they have omitted to mention that must be added to the council’s expenditure.

First, they have produced a website. www.ashtonchristmasmarket.co.uk unfortunately on opening it (at the time of writing) l discovered it contained more spelling mistakes than information! And when I opened the list of vendors, there were none! (It has now been updated)

Also, if you are looking to plan your visit around catching a particular entertainer, the times of their performances would have been handy! (They have now added some of this info') On the home page of this site it tells us that its Tameside’s Council Deputy Executive Leader Cllr John Taylor, who is responsible for markets, however if one opens the application to rent space, one must apply to a company called, New Image (Public Relations) Ltd.

Now obviously this company will not be running this event for nothing, so one must assume they are receiving a reasonable fee for the privilege, and despite the web site being launched half-cocked, it will still have us cost money.

If all the stalls are booked, the £6000 is not nearly enough to fund the ‘extensive entertainment programme’ so how much more is that costing?

There is then the added costs involved with the future storing of the 30 cabins; yearly maintenance and repair and transport, health & safety checks, insurance and erecting and de-rigging on and off site to consider.

Another aspect of this venture into producing a ‘Christmas Market’ is to consider the competition.

Throughout the UK, 2013 will see 214 Christmas Markets vying for trade. These vary from towns like Manchester who boast over 300 stalls scattered in prime locations throughout the city to towns like Lincoln whose prime space stalls are rented out from £1100, or Harrogate who have a 4 day event with 130 -150 stalls. Retailers fight tooth and nail to grab these spaces at these events and pay an average price of £70 per day for the privilege. In the main, these specialist markets have been planned 12 months in advance and bookings start in January in order to secure the best international producers that make the Christmas Market atmosphere unique.

Tameside council only approved this event at a meeting of the Strategic Planning and Capital Monitoring Panel on 1^st July this year, and will have a mere 30 stalls where traders are asked for £200 for the fortnight!

Considering all this, if Tameside wanted to ‘stick their toes in the water’ and create a Christmas Market’ surely it would have been more prudent to initially hire the cabins, amortise the hire cost by adjusting the rental, and fund the entertainment aspect out of their marketing budget. So instead of creating an instant loss of between £63,500 - £75,000.

They could be enjoying a handy profit of £15,900 - of which to fund the entertainment aspect. 

The way our brilliantly run Labour controlled council have planned it, it will take 12 years at

SOMEONE'S NICKED THE COUNCIL CALCULATOR!

best to break even; a business model that would see most private companies bankrupt in year one!

To throw an initial £69,500 at building chalets and an additional unknown amount hiring a PR company, and producing a web site that could be rendered totally useless should the Christmas Market fail to deliver, is shear folly and is typical of a commercially clueless council who continue to waste taxpayers money whilst claiming poverty, increasing taxes and initiating draconian cuts to elderly care centres!