Welcome to Regional Insight
Welcome to the second issue of West Midlands Regional Insight.
It has been a busy time for market town partnerships in the West Midlands. A new evaluation of the market towns programme points to considerable successes since 2001; the Better Welcome tourism programme is moving to its action planning phase; there have been important studies into rural services in the West Midlands - and there is news of a national initiative by the rural advocate.
A successful networking event was held in the historic town of Ironbridge earlier this month - and there is an important meeting of the Market Town Forum on June 20 in Cheadle, which I hope you will be able to attend.
As always, I would like to receive details of what is going on in your town or partnership. My e-mail addresses is below.
John Pole
Communications Manager
Action for Market Towns
Forum meeting in Cheadle,Staffs on 20 June
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The next West Midlands Market Towns Forum will be held at the Manor Hotel, Cheadle.
The theme for this event is 'Prosperous Market Towns' and will encourage debate amongst the Partnerships about how to enable continued local economic development in your towns.
The Forum will hear from Chris Wade, Chief Executive of Action for Market Towns, about the new 'Towns Alive' programme – the recently approved Big Lottery market towns development project. This will be followed by the presentation of the West Midlands Market Towns awards 2008.
The afternoon session will begin with a presentation from Carrie Weekes, Regional Lead for the West Midlands Development Trusts Association, who will provide a DTA perspective on how local economic development can be stimulated in Market Towns.
Finally, Advantage West Midlands will lead a session to announce plans for the next West Midlands Market Towns Programme and will seek the views of the Partnerships in respect of the next programme.
As usual there will be two participative workshops run by Rick Ball, Staffordshire University and Graeme Perks, Skills Builders.
For more information click here to download the agenda.
To book a place, e-mail Anne Buchanan at:
Evaluation points to success of Market Towns Programme
An evaluation of the West Midlands Market Towns Programme has pointed to considerable successes since it began in 2001.
The evaluation proposes a raft of 11 recommendations for the structuring of a future rural development programme for the region, learning from the successes and challenges of the past seven years and experience of market town programmes across the country.
For more information about the evaulation and to download a full copy go to weblink:
amt-i Benchmarking Programme
amt-i - the research and consulting arm of Action for Market Towns - has unveiled a new project alongside the Welland Market Town Group (WMTG) to provide support for an online benchmarking service which provides Partnerships and Communities with invaluable information on 12 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) on their locality.
These KPI’s include; Footfall Counts, Visitor Satisfaction, Car Park Availability and Usage and Total Number of Commercial Units.
For more details of how this new service can help your town, go to weblink:
Book early for AMT Convention and save money
The Action for Market Towns Covention 2008 is in Skipton, North Yorkshire on 1&2 October 2008. This year, there is a special Early Bird discount for independent partnerships who are AMT members which can save them up to £110. For those towns who are not yet in membership, the £250 discount will more than pay for your first year's membership of AMT.
To get the Early Bird discount, you need to book by 31 July.
To download a flyer with details of the Convention and the programme of study tours and workshops, and to access an online booking form, go to weblink:
Better Welcome towns plan projects
Although market towns are economically and socially vital to the regions in which they are located, evidence suggests that the experience of those visiting the towns varies in quality.
As a result of this variation, Action for Market Towns’ enterprise division, amt-i, are currently working on behalf of Advantage West Midlands to deliver the Better Welcome Programme.
Better Welcome aims to improve both the tourism appeal of market towns in the region, and the subsequent economic benefits that flow from increased visitor numbers. Research undertaken so far has included visitors’ surveys, SWOT analysis and ‘Visioning’ events, combining external and local experience and expertise.
Action Plans have now been completed for 28 market towns within Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, providing each of these towns with invaluable information in regards to:
• their Unique Selling Proposition, such as Heritage/ History and Architecture
• their Visitor Markets such as Empty Nesters, DINKS and Wealthy Retired Couples
• their Visitor Spend Patterns
• their Visitor Satisfaction and Importance ratings
• their Towns’ profile against others in the region, allowing for potential joint working
The Action Planning document, scores the Towns’ individual project ideas against criteria such as vision statement, visitor need and achievability, providing the top three tourism enhancing projects which should be undertaken. Each town has had until 1st June 2008 to apply for a capital development fund of up to £25,000 for the projects which have emerged from the process.
Ironbridge networking event
On the 2 June at Ironbridge Museum, a networking event was held on ‘The Role of Partnerships: Today and in the Future.’ The event was open to all towns from the West Midlands, but specifically directed at those in Shropshire.
The event concentrated on developing the benefits and roles of Market Towns Partnerships, with an insight into how they will fit within the new unitary structure and changes in regional priorities.
Representatives from Action for Market Towns hosted the evening, which included presentations on;
• Pulling Together a Successful Partnership Team
• Case Studies of Successful Partnerships
• What Future for Market Towns? A Local to National Perspective
After the short presentations attendees were provided with the opportunity to take part in an innovative ‘Speed Dating’ style networking activity, and enjoy a glass of wine over some locally produced cheese.
West Midlands Rural Economy Study
In 2007, Advantage West Midlands commissioned research to undertake a thorough study of the West Midlands Rural Economy.
The results have established the baseline data for the region’s rural areas. This has highlighted the growing difference in workplace based earnings and resident based earnings in rural districts.
The levels of home working are higher in the more rural parts. Additional work has been done to analyse the economy and commuting patterns around a number of market towns. The commuting distances for work are shorter than expected at less than 10km. All the towns reviewed had a reasonable level of self containment: people living and working in the town.
An overview of the research can be found at:Research overview
and the more detailed reports are available through:Detailed Reports.
Access to rural services study
The purpose of the study was to establish a common regional understanding of the concept of ‘rural service accessibility’ and develop an agenda for change and improvement.
The first stage of work was to review the policy context and evidence base, then develop a Framework. The Framework established the objective ‘to improve access for those most in need to services and opportunities that will make the greatest difference to their lives’.
The Framework was established along three key dimensions: specific services or opportunities; the people at greatest risk of social or economic exclusion in rural parts of the West Midlands; and, the places in which they live and/ or work.
For more information please see: Rural accessibility to services. and more detailed component reports can be found at:
Detailed evidence.
Good Practice Case Studies
Action for Market Towns enterprise division, amt-i, is currently in the process of researching case studies of strong partnerships throughout Britain. The overarching objective will be to highlight what common issues make a good partnership in the form of a ‘Partnership MOT.’
Twenty Case Studies will be chosen initially from the premise of what has made the Partnership strong, such as good organisational practice, the types of people involved, projects delivered and effective
financial management.
Currently associates of AMT are sending details of Partnerships where they feel good practice has occurred, providing the amt-i Senior Research Consultant with a robust sample, before a final 20 are selected. The Case Studies will offer a wide spectrum of Partnerships both old and new, and with a varied geographical spread.
A standard template has been developed, and once the 20 Case Studies are identified, contact will be made via email and telephone to organise telephone and face-to-face interviews with partnership representatives. If you know of a Partnership which fits the bill, simply e-mail Mike King, amt-i Senior Research Consultant, at:
Rural Advocate calls for economy summit
The government should convene a national summit to focus government attention on ways of releasing the potential of the rural economy, according to the Rural Advocate Dr Stuart Burgess.
The call came following the release of a Commission for Rural Communities report: England's Rural Areas - steps to unlock their potential
Other proposals in the report include:
• The establishment of a Rural Finance Forum to boost rural investment
• A rural innovation initiative to address issues faced by remote rural areas
• Improved access to employee and business support programmes
For more information and to download the report go to weblink:
New £1.5m business centre in Ludlow
Work has begun on a new £1.5m business centre with a top level environmental rating in Ludlow.
The Enterprise Centre has been designed to provide sustainable workspaces for up to 21 businesses, with the potential to create almost 100 jobs.
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If you like 'regional insight', then take a look at the national e-newsletter 'insight' published monthly by Action for Market Towns and mailed exclusively to AMT members.
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