Decision details

The Open is a prestigious sporting event that independent research demonstrates brings significant economic benefits to the area in which the event is held, due to the global profile it provides for the area and the resulting interest from international business and spectators.

The last time Kent hosted The Open in 2011, it generated a £77m benefit to the Kent economy, of which £24.14m was direct additional spend. The event is forecast to grow from 180,000 spectators in 2011 to at least 200,000 spectators in 2020, and will be able to accommodate an even higher number of visitors in future years beyond 2020 owing to the layout of the course. That economic impact is therefore forecast to grow. In 2020, the economic impact is forecast to be in excess of £85m, of which at least £26.8m is forecast to be direct additional spend.

The Open primarily meets two of the strategic outcomes described in Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes; ‘All Kent’s communities benefit from economic growth and lower levels of deprivation’; and ‘Kent residents enjoy a good quality of life, and more people benefit from greater social, cultural and sporting opportunities’.

As Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, I agree to KCC supporting the return of The Open Championship to Sandwich, in 2020, and to contribute £250,000 towards the cost of capital infrastructure works at Sandwich Railway Station, subject to a commitment that The Open returns to Sandwich at least every eight years, for a further two Open Championships.

I further agree that KCC will initially pay costs that the DfT will incur through this project, and will then be reimbursed on a quarterly basis, subject to confirmation, for those costs. The exact amount of costs that the DfT will contribute is still to be confirmed, as part of ongoing value engineering of the project.