Archived decisions
Hampshire County Council.
Sir George Staunton Country Park Item 8
Joint Management Committee
2 December 2004.
Business Plan
Contact : Lewis Paterson (Telephone: 023 9245 3405)
( With the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, this matter is included on the agenda to enable the Sir George Staunton Country Park Joint Management Committee to approve the Business Plan ).
1 Introduction
1.1 This report updates Members of the current progress in preparing a long term Business Plan for Sir George Staunton Country Park.
1.2 At this stage the plan is in a draft format. It is intended that it be finalised prior to the next meeting of the Joint Management Committee, and presented with the Management Plan. Appendix A summarises the Business Plan proposal for the forthcoming five years (until 2009/10).
1.3 This plan is aimed at eliminating the deficit in the Parks reserve account and creating a stable base on which to build in the future.
1.4 It must be stressed that this is a draft plan based upon a number of assumptions which require further testing.
1 Assumptions
1.1 In preparing the outline Business Plan the following assumptions have been made;
i. No inflationary increase to income, expenditure, or partner contributions has been made. Only the forecast business growth is shown.
ii. All figures are based upon the proposed 2005/06 baseline budget.
iii. Premises costs will increase by 50% of the percentage increase in visitor numbers (i.e. a 10% increase in visitor numbers results in a 5% increase in premises costs).
iv. A 10% increase in visitor numbers will require an additional 1.2 full time equivalent staff members (based upon current staffing levels). This has been calculated at a salary of £13,000, on-costed at 20% = £18720.
v. Gift Shop income will increase at 2% below the rate of overall visitor number increase.
vi. Catering income will increase at 1% below the rate of overall visitor number increase.
vii. Gross Profit margins will remain static for Catering and Gift Shop sales.
viii. Supplies & Services for Catering and Gift Shop sales will rise at the same percentage rate as that of their respective income. All other Supplies & Services costs will rise at half the rate of visitor number increase.
ix. Current Lottery revenue funding for the Education Officer and Heritage & Conservation Ranger ceases in 2006/07.
x. The current Heritage Lottery bid to restore Pine & Melon Grounds will be successful. This area will open for Easter 2007 and result in a 20% visitor increase during that year.
xi. Tea Rooms and Conference facilities and furniture will each be refitted on a staggered four year rolling cycle.
xii. Dedicated Marketing and Conference & Events posts will exist at Sir George Staunton Country Park to actively pursue new business and maintain existing business.
xiii. Arbitrary figures for restoration of features based upon the EDA plan framework (but undertaking works in-house where possible) have been assumed as follows;
Item |
Amount |
Tea Rooms Refits |
£10,000 |
Conference Facility Refits |
£10,000 |
Car Park Improvements |
£15,000 |
North paddocks of Ornamental Farm restoration |
£30,000 |
Shell House / Fernery restoration (match funding) |
£10,000 |
Front Lawn Restoration |
£20,000 |
TOTAL |
£95,000 |
xiv. The Catering Operation remains in-house, or if externalised an overall improved financial package is achieved.
3. Five Year Forecast
3.1 Appendix A demonstrates that a period of three years will be required to eliminate the current predicted deficit within the reserve account. Should assumption (x) prove incorrect then there will be a requirement to reschedule other planned works until funding becomes available.
3.2 Assumptions on the continued growth in visitor numbers to the Park are based upon initial findings from recent Audience Development research undertaken by Arts Marketing Hampshire. The peak audience number rise (2007/08 at 20%) will be directly related to the reopening of the Pine and Melon Grounds. Prior to this significant growth potential also exists within local markets (15 minute drive time) unaware of the Park, or its facilities. It is intended that this be unlocked through better directed marketing campaigns in order to raise awareness.
3.3 The successful restoration of the Pine and Melon Grounds is important to the short to medium term success of Sir George Staunton Country Park. It will result in a significant step up in visitor numbers and become a catalyst for the future development and sustainability of the Park.
3.4 It should be noted that the reworked 2005/06 budget contains inbuilt elements for smaller scale rolling restoration and replanting of Park features. These budgets will be inflated at 50% the rate of overall visitor growth.
Recommendations
That the Joint Management Committee note the content of this report.
Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers
The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report. NB this list excluded: