Recordings of previous briefings and presentations are available at: https://filetransfer.midkent.gov.uk/webclient/Login.xhtml.

To access the site please use your normal username and password for the Council’s network (same as for emails). If you cannot enter the site please call IT on 01622 602602 and they can restore access.

Please suggest further topics to committee@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

(Attachment 1)

The Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival will return to the town after a successful debut in 2022. Coming to Tunbridge Wells Thursday 11^th to Sunday 14^th May, the festival will have a diverse range of events at the Assembly Hall Theatre, the Amelia Scott, Royal Victoria Place, The Forum and One Warwick Park. Last year’s inaugural festival was a resounding success, with attendance figures of over 1,600 visitors across its four-day run, and this year, with the backing of Arts Council England including an offer of over a thousand free tickets for children, as well as the generous support of Berry & Lamberts Solicitors, RBC Brewin Dolphin and Royal Tunbridge Wells Together the festival aims to be even bigger and better than before! Brand new events for this year will include the first ever TW Comicon and the TWLF Local Writer’s Fair.

Expect an exemplary cast of authors and illustrators, ranging from internationally acclaimed industry veterans to the local, the young and the new, whose wonderfully diverse work within the literary sphere explores a true variety of subject matters, from Biography, Non-Fiction and Wellbeing contributions to a smorgasbord of Sci-Fi, Crime, Drama, and even Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga!

You can expect to see a leading cast of authors and illustrators, ranging from internationally acclaimed industry veterans such as Sir Michael Parkinson (My Sporting Life), Sheila Hancock (Old Rage) and Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch (The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting), to popular writers such as Dorothy Koomson (The Ice Cream Girls, My Other Husband), Michael Rosen (Better Things), comedian and author Bec Hill (The Slime), and Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman (The Warlock Effect), who will also be presenting a creative writing masterclass on their award-winning show, Ghost Stories. There’s non-fiction crime including Her Honour Wendy Joseph (Unlawful Killings: Life, Love, Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey) and Mark Billingham (The Murder Book, The Last Dance), contemporary non-fiction from Carrie and David Grant (A Very Modern Family: Stories and guidance to nurture your relationships), Gyles Brandreth (Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait) and former Arsenal co-owner David Dein (Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life), free childrens’ fiction events including Manjeet Mann (The Crossing) and Vashti Hardy (Brightstorm series), and many, many more!

Celebrating the enormous, yet often understated contribution that both western comics and Japanese manga have made to storytelling and literacy, our first ever TW Comicon will feature comic books, novels and films, manga, workshops with comic creators and artists, collectables and comics to purchase, and retro-gaming opportunities. The event will include everything from Cosplay Competitions and Character Appearances to Creative Workshops with SuperBlackLines, Matt Knight, and David Hine.

Local talent will also be celebrated at the very first TWLF Local Writers’ Fair.

———————————————————————————————————–

Our fill list of events is attached and is also accessible via the below link with full author details available on our website What’s On – Amelia (theamelia.co.uk)

Digital flyer: https://issuu.com/twbc-culture/docs/tw_literary_festival_2023_lineup

Physical flyer: If physical flyers are required for any further distribution please direct any requests towards myself (matthew.robson@tunbridgewells.gov.uk) and I will arrange for them to be supplied.

Last Thursday the Council received confirmation that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs had approved the Tunbridge Wells REPF Addendum Plan, confirming funding allocations for our proposed projects. The Addendum Plan was approved by TWBC Cabinet on Thursday 17 November 2022 for submission to DEFRA.

The Council’s Year 1 (2023/24) funding allocation of £110,901 will be used to complete the decarbonisation works at the Weald Sports Centre, ensuring that it helps meet zero-carbon commitments and continues to serve communities in the east of the borough.

The Council’s Year 2 (2024/25) funding allocation of £332,703 will be used to deliver a West Kent Rural Grants Programme, alongside our partners in Sevenoaks District Council and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. The grants programme will provide capital grants of up to £25,000 to rural businesses and communities to undertake innovative projects in the borough.

We will be sharing the criteria for the Year 2 grants scheme in due course, and encouraging businesses and community organisations that think they might have a project that would fit the programme to contact the REPF Grants Programme Manager with their expressions of interest. This will ensure that they are best placed to be awarded funding in April 2024.

Further information about the grants and contact details for the Programme Manager will be shared as soon as these are available.

Please note that there will be a second round of UKSPF Community Grants for the 2023/24 financial year. Again, as soon as further details about eligibility criteria and the application process are available these will be shared across the borough.

Please see our Discover Tunbridge Wells this Spring article on page 21 of this month’s SO Magazine. The article is part of our Rediscover Tunbridge Wells Campaign, celebrating local businesses and encouraging residents to explore their borough this spring.

Here’s a summary of media enquiries and an outline of the responses given for this week. Further details and responses in full are available from the Communications Team.

We share information with residents and businesses through the website, our social media accounts and weekly news email. In the past week this has included: vacancies, Amelia Scott activities, voter info, pollution patrol, emergency alerts, rediscover Tunbridge Wells, Paddock Wood wellbeing walk, weight loss programme, Easter info, Solar Together.

Literary Festival

Courier/KentLive 12 April
Would like more information about Comicon event

Info, pics and web link provided

Food hygiene reports

Courier/KentLive 12 April
Request for number of food hygiene reports where 1 rating was awarded

Redacted reports that can be released provided

PR2 enforcement

Kent Messenger 12 April
Request for comment concerning resident who has received a Penalty Charge Notice

Advised that letters were sent to residents and businesses in advance of enforcement restarting, there is a sympathetic appeals process in place for anyone who feels they have wrongly been issued with a PCN

Public Spaces Protection Order

The Independent 12 April
To all councils asking if PSPO specifically relating to sex work is in place

Advised no

Media Releases

The Amelia Scott feedback survey