So what has the Development & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel been up to?

The Covid-19 pandemic has had its effects on all of the Council’s services including scrutiny.

Let us take a look back at what the Development & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel has been up to:

In response to the national lockdown, all scrutiny meetings were temporarily suspended and therefore meetings booked for March, May and August 2020 were cancelled.

September 2020

The Panel met for the first time virtually to discuss the Project Update Report on the regeneration projects in Swansea.

The Panel discussed the progress of:  Swansea Central Phase 1 ?; Swansea Central North; Kingsway – Infrastructure and Public Realm; Kingsway – Strategy and Digital Village; City Centre Marketing of Strategic Sites; Strategic Sites and Project Overview regeneration projects.

The Panel had some requests from cabinet, including:

  • Images of arena, north side residential core and MSCP
  • Arrangement of a Panel visit to the arena site
  • Information on government departments interested in locating hubs in Swansea and number of jobs that are to be transferred to Swansea
  • Information on number of jobs to be created at distillery

To view details of what was discussed at this meeting please click here.

November 2020 – March 2021:

The Panel continued to meet virtually to receive regular updates on all the regeneration projects in Swansea. All meetings held have been recorded and uploaded onto the council website, click here to view details.

At the meeting held on 2 March 2021 the Panel was pleased to meet the Operations Director and Business Manager of the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) who attended to present an overview of ATG. The Panel learned that ATG is a vertically integrated business; operating venues, producing shows and selling tickets for iconic venues such as the Savoy Theatre in London, The Colonial in Boston, and the Smart Financial Centre in Houston.

The Panel also learned that ATG’s productions team and producing partners, Sonia Friedman Productions, have won sixty Tony and Olivier awards collectively and that ATG work with high profile partners such as Disney to deliver products and shows, for example the Lion King.

The Panel was pleased to hear that ATG recruitment is underway, with the aim to recruit 70% of the one hundred estimated casual staff locally. ATG have already appointed a General Manager and a number of positions are due to be filled over the coming months, including a Conference and Events Manager.

The Panel also discussed issues around the design, construction and fitting of theatre technical equipment. ATG expect to appoint building services, such as security and food/beverage suppliers, locally from the expressions of interest received in response to a call for local suppliers.

To view the recording of this meeting, read the presented reports and find out all details discussed please click here.

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