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And highly popular annual events such as Neath’s Food and Drink Festival, the highly successful In It Together Festival, the Dragon Ride and Margam Country Park’s family centred activities draw in huge crowds.

Now, a new Neath Port Talbot Events Policy featuring a dedicated Events Team running a Film Office has been adopted by members of Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet at their meeting on August 7th, 2024. It follows a lengthy review of how events and festivals are managed in Neath Port Talbot.

The policy is designed to streamline the organisation of events, festivals and filming in the county borough to take full advantage of these activities while ensuring they are safe for residents and visitors.

It forms part of the new Neath Port Talbot Council Cultural Strategy which, along with the council’s Heritage Strategy and Destination Management Plan, was formally launched at the Gwyn Hall, Neath in July of this year. They are aimed at transforming the county borough into a nationally recognised destination with a high-quality, accessible offer of sport, heritage, arts and culture.

The importance to the local economy of filming and major events cannot be underestimated with officers forecasting that filming alone could be worth £1.35m to the Neath Port Talbot economy by the end of 2026/2027 through stays at local hotels and use of local suppliers.

An officers’ report to the Cabinet said: ”A key activity of the new Events Team and Film Office will be to build relationships with Creative Wales and Events Wales. The aim of this is to generate new event and filming work in Neath Port Talbot.

“Initial discussions with both of these Welsh Government departments have been hugely positive with encouraging levels of demand indicated in bringing more activity to Neath Port Talbot.”

It is hoped the events policy will be fully in place by next Spring with the small, dedicated Events Team to implement it being established over the coming months.

Two major events on the horizon in Neath Port Talbot include The Stand Up for South Wales Comedy Festival being hosted throughout the county borough in late September to early October 2024 and the Urdd Eisteddfod which comes to Margam Country Park from May 26th – 31st 2025.

As well as the new Events Policy, Neath Port Talbot will see a new Events Strategy developed, funded via the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. While the policy sets out practical guidance for event organisers the strategy will provide a vision for how the council and wider partners can attract more events to the area for the benefit of the local economy and wellbeing of Neath Port Talbot residents.

The new initiatives around events and filming form part of Neath Port Talbot Council’s new Culture and Heritage strategies aimed at achieving a local “cultural transformation” in addition to the county borough’s Destination Management Plan – a blueprint for how the council will sustain, grow and manage its visitor economy between now and 2028.

Cllr Cen Phillips, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing, said: “Events have been identified as playing an important role in delivering economic and cultural benefits in addition to enabling a sense of local pride of place.

“The new policy will provide a clear framework to facilitate the planning and execution of a wide range of events as well as filming activities while maintaining public safety and regulatory compliance. The policy also reflects the council’s commitment to creating a sustainable and supportive environment for both commercial and community-led activities.

“As the council moves forward with these plans, it invites feedback and participation from the community. Residents and others involved are encouraged to engage with the process, share their ideas, and become active participants in the vibrant future of Neath Port Talbot.”