Key partners to work together towards Mayflower 400 and beyond

Key partners across Plymouth have signed an agreement to work closely together in the run up to Mayflower 400 celebrations and well beyond.

A memorandum of understanding is being signed by Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans, Chairman of Destination Plymouth, Duncan Currall, Chairman of Plymouth Waterfront Partnership BID, Chris Arscott and Chairman of Plymouth City Centre Company BID, Douglas Fletcher all of whom are Directors on the Destination Plymouth Board.

The agreement commits all four organisations together for the first time ever with joint objectives to help grow the ambitions of the city as it head towards Mayflower 400 in 2020.

The memorandum follows a year of partner discussions, workshops and meetings where the Plymouth visitor plan has been reviewed and shaped into a five year business plan with key delivery objectives.

The document states that:

To work effectively and benefit the partnership will require commitment from all the partners to:

• one destination management plan for Plymouth
• one co-ordinated events framework for the City
• one marketing and City branding framework
• one approach to funding and resources to deliver the plan;

The document then continues:

• The success and sustainability of the city’s visitor economy and the achievement of visitor plan objectives is only achievable and certain when they work in partnership and collaborate together;
• That the whole city, its community and its businesses will benefit substantially from the ongoing success and growth in the visitor economy;

Plymouth City Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “We all agree Mayflower 400 offers Plymouth an outstanding opportunity to be in the global spotlight. However this doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes a lot of hard work, commitment and cooperation between different organisations and businesses behind the scenes. 2020 may seem a long way off but the clock is ticking. We have an exciting programme in the pipeline but it involves lots of people pulling together over many months – on top of what they are already doing to keep the city a great place to live, work and visit. This memorandum is a public commitment on behalf of these key groups to work towards this incredible occasion.”

Duncan Currall Chairman of Destination Plymouth explained: “There has been a strong desire for some time to work more closely together between all the partners involved and I am delighted that we have reached an overall agreement. It has taken a while to work through some of the details of this memorandum but we firmly believe that it will be the firm foundation for strong delivery and achievement of growth in the visitor economy not just up to 2020 but well beyond.“

Plymouth Waterfront Partnership BID Chairman Chris Arscott confirmed their commitment commenting: “Through the Waterfront BID, we strive to achieve the maximum return for Waterfront businesses and their investments. We’re really pleased to sign this agreement assuring us of closer working with our key partners and guaranteeing a unified approach with the Waterfront at the heart of city promotion.”

Douglas Fletcher, Chairman of Plymouth City Centre Company added: “I am delighted this memorandum of understanding has been signed by all parties. It gives us a fantastic opportunity to pool our resources to maximise the benefits of Mayflower 2020. Plymouth will be on the world stage and it is vital all of us work even more closely than before to showcase what a fantastic city it is”

Work is now taking place to firm up budgets for delivery over the next four years as well as putting into place an effective delivery team who can really start to build on the momentum we have already achieved to date.

Chief Executive of Destination Plymouth, Amanda Lumley was delighted at the signing commenting: “Recent successes for Destination Plymouth include a confirmed £500,000 of funding from Visit Britain for Mayflower 400 international marketing activity and for the first time ever opportunities to promote Plymouth internationally working in partnership with the SW Tourism Growth Fund. Things are starting to take shape and we are well and truly on our way to achieving our goals working together, it is great to see this success for the city”.