Agenda item

(1)       The Chairman welcomed Myriam Caron to the meeting and invited her to give the Committee background information about her role and how it had developed since 1997, before answering questions from Members of the Committee.

(2)       Ms Caron said she was originally attracted to the post within the Economic Development team because she thought KCC was being adventurous and modern.  She went on to say that KCC had a good reputation in Europe and the original focus of her role was to raise awareness of European funding, particularly Interreg (2A at that time). in rural areas with districts and in fact the whole of Kent. She worked closely with Nord Pas de Calais, focusing on KCC priorities and bringing through funding to achieve common objectives.

(3)       Her role had evolved and since March 2012 she had been acting as the Hardelot Centre manager, living on site as well as undertaking her normal duties in Maidstone.  The Hardelot Centre is owned by KCC for the benefit of schools, youth organisations and the broader community and had been considered for closure 3 years ago. It was close to Hardelot Castle and was an asset. She also said that the closing the centre would send a wrong message and there were opportunities to use it differently. It still welcomed schools, mainly primary at present but had been opened to schools in the whole of the UK and also French Groups. There could be more of a focus on what we want to do for young people with regard to e.g. language and travel. People in Nord Pas de Calais are interested in Kent and it gives people from Kent the chance to meet residents of Nord Pas de Calais. We could do more around education and other partners in the UK can see what Kent is doing. We could use it to promote local produce from Kent.

Question – Could the facilities at Hardelot be used for seminars for British businesses to learn about French culture with a view to developing trading opportunities?

(4)       Ms Caron said the centre could be developed in a variety of ways and a vision/ mission statement needed to be developed and agreed. Why we should keep it, what we should do and how it fits with our European activities and priorities.

Question- Is more publicity needed in order to promote its facilities

(5)       Yes more publicity was required, the centre as a whole needed to be run like a business; it is now viable but we could do a lot better and KCC needed to decide what it wanted from it and be clear how it benefitted the residents of Kent. The French are very keen to use it and there are 120 secondary schools that are keen to pair up here. We need to look at the accommodation; there are small conference facilities.

How many beds has the centre?

(6)               35

Could the centre be developed as an equestrian centre?

(7)       Equestrian, tennis, golf and sand yachting facilities were all available locally but under KCC rules it was not possible to promote the Hardelot Centre and these facilities as a package.  When schools stay at the centre they pay separately for any activities outside the centre.  It would however be possible to develop comprehensive packages for schools and for other organisations such as Scouts.

(8)       A list of local available activities that were not currently promoted is to be circulated to the Committee.

What is needed to develop the facility and make it viable?

(9)       KCC needed to set out the purpose of the centre and make a relatively small capital investment to increase the accommodation from 35 to 60 beds so full coaches of students could be accommodated.  More publicity to increase the awareness of the centre among schools and youth groups and a user-friendly website that included the facility to book on line were also required.

(10)     Roy Moys said there was a need to prioritise the use of Ms Caron’s time and, although she had done an excellent job managing the centre, her principal role was to develop partnership working.  He suggested that the ELS might wish to run the centre since it needed a centre manager.  He also said the provision or improvement of accommodation was not generally eligible for EU funding.