Brighton and Hove expects £15 million boost from Liberal Democrat party conference

1:11pm Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News By Ben Parsons

The estimated policing costs for the Liberal Democrats' autumn party conference in Brighton will be £2.1 million, it has been disclosed - but tourism chiefs expect it to bring in £15 million.

Around 8,000 delegates will flock to the seaside city for the event which starts on Saturday.

Fencing has been erected around the conference's venue, the Brighton Centre on the seafront, but the scale of the security operation is smaller than previous years.

The cost of the Labour Party conference in Brighton in 2009 amounted to around £6 million, substantially less than the £2.1 million cost predicted for the Lib Dems' event.

Niall Griffin, the deputy planning co-ordinator for Sussex Police, said: "We have taken police officers over and above the normal policing requirements and we have also brought in officers from other forces to enhance our numbers."

Mr Griffin said police were expecting a "safe and peaceful" protest on Saturday by campaigners from groups including Brighton Stop the Cuts and the local Trades Council.

Adam Bates, head of tourism and leisure for Brighton and Hove City Council, said the conference should boost the local economy by an estimated £15 million. He said: "It has been a tough summer. The early poor weather didn't help and the general economy is making it very difficult for many businesses.

"That said, we are a city with a lot going on and better than most. It's great to have (the Lib Dems) back. There is a lot of competition as we have relatively new venues in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow."

Comments(15)

mnairb says...
1:30pm Wed 19 Sep 12

'8,000 delegates' are there really still that many LibDems still in the country?

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Plantpot says...
1:46pm Wed 19 Sep 12

The incremental revenue means nothing unless it creates new, permanent jobs, or maintains existing ones that would otherwise have been lost. If it doesn't do these things, it's just £15m that goes into existing businesses.

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brighton-breezy says...
1:58pm Wed 19 Sep 12

I may well have got this wrong and misunderstood what Adam Bates means, but bringing an income of £15 million to the city means that each of the 8000 delegates will be spending and average of £1875 each over the 5 day period? I doubt that is the case at all.

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puddingandpi says...
2:23pm Wed 19 Sep 12

It won't though. They'll all stay in chain hotels & shop in chain stores & eat at chain restaurants. The money will just pass through Brighton. Of course, the local staff of these chains may see some of the cash but that's all they'll do - see it.
.
Plantpot is right, it means nothing & in the meantime, we have to cough up for security etc. .

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Dealing with idiots says...
2:54pm Wed 19 Sep 12

Interesting that the Greens did not see fit to hold their conference in Brighton. Possibly they knew that their delegates would have had to run the gauntlet of angry Brighton and Hove residents and businesses. At least the Lib Dems have had the courage to hire the small room above the pub on the seafront for theirs.

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kopite_rob says...
3:27pm Wed 19 Sep 12

So the head of tourism reckons each delegate is going to spend almost £400 a DAY in Brighton.
Are they actually going to attend the conference or spend all day on the pier playing coin drops?

And do we really need to pander to putting up perimeter fences & policing this lot?

It's the Lib Dems for sake, not the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. If no one had reported they where coming, honestly how many of us would have even noticed? Theres one conference or other every week here, 800 Lib Dems would look like 800 insurance salesmen or train modellers to me.

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nuff said says...
4:19pm Wed 19 Sep 12

If the Argus employed real journalists, Ben Parsons might have had the wit to ask Adam Bates how he arrived at the figure of an estimated £15 million "boost to the local economy", but it doesn't so the figure just gets printed without challenge.

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chilliman says...
4:25pm Wed 19 Sep 12

I keep reading this paragraph and it still doesn't make sense. How is £6M less than £2M?

The cost of the Labour Party conference in Brighton in 2009 amounted to around £6 million, substantially less than the £2.1 million cost predicted for the Lib Dems' event.

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ruberducker says...
5:27pm Wed 19 Sep 12

kopite_rob wrote:
So the head of tourism reckons each delegate is going to spend almost £400 a DAY in Brighton.
Are they actually going to attend the conference or spend all day on the pier playing coin drops?

And do we really need to pander to putting up perimeter fences & policing this lot?

It's the Lib Dems for sake, not the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. If no one had reported they where coming, honestly how many of us would have even noticed? Theres one conference or other every week here, 800 Lib Dems would look like 800 insurance salesmen or train modellers to me.
why come here,dont they have a really big building in london called the house's of parliament--i think they go there to talk politic's.rather than use our resources to talk a load of hot air-as do all politician's and any one else prepared to listen to more false promises and they all get expences to go there.

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Dealing with idiots says...
7:10pm Wed 19 Sep 12

chilliman wrote:
I keep reading this paragraph and it still doesn't make sense. How is £6M less than £2M? The cost of the Labour Party conference in Brighton in 2009 amounted to around £6 million, substantially less than the £2.1 million cost predicted for the Lib Dems' event.
but only three men and a dog willattend this one.

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chilliman says...
8:28pm Wed 19 Sep 12

Even if only three men and a dog attend this one (and my dog is keeping well out of it unless he can c**k a leg), how is £6M less than £2M?

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rolivan says...
9:42pm Wed 19 Sep 12

Just a big jolly up that they will be able to claim as an expense when they file their Tax return.

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The Gnome says...
9:45pm Wed 19 Sep 12

I wouldn't worry about it - having pledged to come to Brighton, they will change their minds at the last moment and go to Harrogate instead.

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Nathan_Adler says...
9:09am Thu 20 Sep 12

If the Liberal Yoghurt knitters are not going to spend the money themselves (£1875 each) as mentioned above, why would anybody want to visit Brighton at a time when a load of students and veggies will be demonstrating, tloads of polie doing checks, traffic chaos and worse of all the chance to see Nick Clegg smiling like a paedophile in a playground at all and sundry.

What a ridiculous story, and far, far off the mark.

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Phani Tikkala says...
10:30am Thu 20 Sep 12

This story is complete cobblers, with figures plucked out of the air as usual. Not only does most of the money go to international companies' shareholders, rather than on extra staff, but even the mysterious £m figures don't add up.

In August 2010 the Ragus ran a story that the LD conference in 2012 would bring in £10m - now it's £15m. Considering they've lost most of their membership, a sudden £5m increase seems er... unlikely.

The figures (from the Ragus's own coverage) for conference earnings range from £5m for the LDs in 2003 to £10m for Labour in 2009, then £20m, and these figures are simply plucked out of thin air. Now the LDs are bringing in £15m? WTF?

Not forgetting that the security costs are in the millions....

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