Decision details

The business plan sets out a strategy for ongoing investment, principally at the Roman Baths & Pump Room, to sustain its position as a leading UK visitor attraction and continue delivering the return the council expects through its MTRSP

(1) To APPROVE the Heritage Services Business Plan 2013-2018; and

(2) To APPROVE the capital budgets for the Visitor Management System, Roman Baths infrastructure and Assembly Rooms dilapidations projects in the Council’s Capital Programme for 2013/14 and 2014/15.

Heritage Services operates as a business unit, with annual profit targets and investment levels agreed corporately on a rolling basis. The business strategy to achieve these targets is detailed in a Business Plan ('The Plan'), reviewed and revised each year. The Plan provides a fully integrated approach to income generation and the investment necessary to achieve it, and is aligned with the Council's corporate aims and objectives.

During the 2002 Best Value Review of Cultural and Leisure services, in which Heritage Services received a 3 Star `Excellent' rating, the inspectors commended this approach. The Audit Commission also commended Heritage Services in 2010 for its achievements in Value For Money and the business systems that enable these to be made as part of their assessment of the Council's "Use of Resources".

The process of revising and updating the Business Plan has involved consideration of a number of different pricing, marketing and investment options. The financial and business effects of these options were modelled and evaluated. The business strategy attached recommends a coherent and integrated series of decisions that are most likely to enable the Service to meet the targets required of it by the Financial Plan and sustain this level of performance in future years.

Another option would be for Heritage Services to cease functioning along the business lines of the past seven years and return to being a conventional local authority museum service. The absence of investment would lead to a loss of focus and competitiveness and result in falling revenues to the Council. This course of action is not recommended.