Councillors question handling of Timaru’s major events funding

Monday, 31 March 2025

The World Tennis Tour event at Timaru’s Trust Aoraki Tennis Centre in February was supported by the district council’s major events fund, which is administered by Venture Timaru on the council’s behalf. Pictured is Chinese Taipei’s Yu Hsiou Hsu in action during the men’s final.

Venture Timaru’s role as the agency that distributes major events funding on behalf of the Timaru District Council has been under review, with elected members raising concerns about the potential for double-dipping.

A report, titled Review of Venture Timaru Major Events Funding, was discussed behind closed doors at a council meeting in May last year and only made public on Thursday, when the agenda for this week’s meeting was released.

The minutes of that meeting show the report led to questions over the future of the council-controlled organisation as the administrator of the major events fund and whether it would be better off handled in-house.

At the meeting, on May 7, 2024, councillors were told a review of the council’s donations and loans policy had been started in August 2023.

It was intended to ensure greater clarity of funding criteria, the application process and accountability of community funding.

“This funding has a focus on economic development and attracting events and visitors from outside of the district, purportedly boosting the local economy,” the meeting minutes said.

The purpose of the fund was defined as “financially supporting and encouraging new and existing events bringing economic and social benefits to the district” and it allowed funding of for-profit events.

Timaru’s Seaside Festival receives funding from the council’s major events fund.

One point of discussion was fully redacted from the released document.

However, a number of concerns discussed at a meeting of the donations and loans subcommittee on April 9, 2024, were listed.

They included a lack of acknowledgement of council funding in event branding as well as application timelines not aligning with those of other council funding, leading to inefficiency and uncertainty for applicants who may seek financial support from both.

There were also concerns the council was not formally advised which applicants had been granted funding, leading to the possibility of double-dipping.

Venture Timaru chief executive Nigel Davenport, pictured with Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen, said at a council meeting earlier in March that the agency needed to do a better job of attracting new business.

Mayor Nigel Bowen said it was his view that the provision of major events funding to Venture Timaru was intended as a trial, and after three years it was appropriate to review whether it was achieving intended outcomes.

Council staff suggested councillors consider the definition of major events funding including minimum and maximum amounts, eligibility criteria, and how that would fit with other council community funding.

They also suggested a number of options for addressing concerns. These included: requiring council-determined funding policies; taking major events funding back in-house; Venture Timaru administering all council major events funding; requiring the agency to amend its policy and increase its reporting to the council; or empowering the council to make final funding decisions based on recommendations from the agency’s staff.

Kaylee Bell’s concert at the Caroline Bay Soundshell in January 2024 was listed as a highlight in Venture Timaru’s annual report.

No decision was reported in the minutes of the May 2024 meeting, but Venture Timaru is still reporting the events funding in its budget for the 2025-26 financial year, with council events funding of $245,000 listed for that year.

In its annual report for 2024, delivered at a council meeting on March 4 this year, the major events fund topped a list of highlights with 13 events supported, three of which were new, and an economic benefit of $7.79 million.

Kaylee Bell’s concert at Caroline Bay in January 2024 was supported by the fund and was also one of the eight highlights listed, as was Scoff, the South Canterbury Outstanding Food Festival.

Venture Tourism, the district’s economic development and tourism agency, has been under increased pressure to perform in recent months.

The Caroline Bay Rock and Hop event is also supported by the major events fund administered by Venture Timaru.

At a meeting in December, the agency’s chairperson at the time, Anthony Brien, was grilled by councillor Stu Piddington over its performance, with Piddington suggesting there had been plenty of talk but no action.

At the time, Brien said the past 18 months had been tough for many businesses. “But there is no excuse – we need to deliver more and I’m not shying away from that.”

At a council meeting earlier this month, Venture Timaru chief executive Nigel Davenport admitted the agency needed to do a better job of attracting new business.

At that meeting, deputy mayor Scott Shannon told Davenport the council had waited a couple of years to “actually see some real actions, some plans about delivering on, I suppose, more than just being visionary, actually having some actual actions behind strategies”.

At the same meeting, councillor Michelle Pye asked if discontinuing funding for some major events would put them at risk.

Venture Timaru operations and destination manager Di Hay said it would. She explained it was difficult for events to get sponsorship at the moment, and the agency saw benefit for the council and Venture Timaru to “continue to be seen to be supporting these events”.

She said events such as the World Tennis Tour tournament, held in February, were supported on a major level because that was the clincher in getting them to come to town in the first place.