Welcome to Regional Insight
Welcome to the third issue of West Midlands Regional Insight.
Firstly - a date for you diary is November 27 at 6pm, when there will be a West Midlands Market Towns Network event. Details of the programme and venue are being finalised and you will be e-mailed shortly.
In this issue of Insight, there are details of the winning entrants to the West Midlands Market Town Awards, together with profiles of winners in other regions and the eventual national winner.
I've included the usual rich mix of stories - this time including a study of factors affecting inward investment, details of a renewable energy initiative and a video interview with Matthew Taylor MP about his affordable housing report.
There are also details of the biggest ever Action for Market Towns Convention. I hope you enjoy reading Insight.
John Pole
Communications Manager
Action for Market Towns
Rural Affairs Forum annual conference
The West Midlands Rural Affairs Forum is holding its sixth annual conference on 12 November in Bromsgrove. The theme is ‘Building a Stronger Rural West Midlands’.
The one-day conference is free to attend, but places are limited are allocated on a first-come. First-served basis.
Details of the conference can be downloaded at: Rural Affairs Forum conference.
A conference booking form can be downloaded at: Conference booking form.
Mobile IT project wins market town award
John Kyrle High School Adult and Community Learning Centre in Ross-on-Wye were overall regional winners of the National Market Town Awards 2008 for their project establishing a mobile IT suite to offer educational opportunities to adults.
They went on to give a presentation alongside other regional winners at the AMT Convention is Skipton, but when the overall national winner came to be chosen they were pipped at the post by the Yorkshire and Humber winner, Kivo-Ebiz, a social enterprise established by the Kiveton Park & Wales Community Development Trust,which sells items on e-bay on behalf of local people, with 20 per cent of the proceeds going to community projects.
Other West Midlands regional winners were: Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Solihull Councils for their redundant buildi ngs grant scheme; Ross Live! For taking their music festival into local schools; and Stourport Forward for a major town regeneration programme.
Full details of West Midlands winners, together with all the winning projects from other regions, are on a special website at:
AMT convention biggest yet
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The 2008 Action for Market Towns Convention ‘Future Choices for Our Towns’, held in Skipton, North Yorkshire, was attended by well over 300 people, a record number, and incorporated the with ruralnet|uk conference, 'Live and Local'.
Day One highlights involved BBC’s legendary broadcaster John Craven addressing the convention on the importance of ensuring communities remain at the heart of the countryside, followed by a series of local study tours.
Day Two revolved around informative presentations from organisations such as Yorkshire Forward, National Association of Local Councils and the Centre for Local Economic Strategy. Participants were also offered a wide range of workshops to attend including: What Makes an Effective Partnership, Get Healthy-the nine month programme for a fitter town, New ways of delivering affordable housing and Making the most of technology.
Due to the success of the event, the race to host the next convention has already started between market towns from across the country. If you think your town could host the 2009 Convention please e-mail: Anna McGowan.
If you weren't able to attend the convention, you can get full reports of the plenary sessions and workshops, together with video reports at:
What makes an effective partnership
amt-i, the commercial arm of Action for Market Towns has recently completed a large scale piece of research on ‘What makes an Effective Partnership?’
Representatives from twenty five community partnerships, from across the country and at various stages of maturity, were interviewed over a three month period.
The findings of the research have been presented in a large-scale qualitative report to inform and guide partnerships on good practice and were disseminated at a workshop at the 2008 Future Choices for Our Towns AMT Convention.
Already the project has enabled partnerships from different regions to be linked up allowing for the cross fertilization of ideas and projects.
For more information contact Mike King, amt-i, Senior Research Consultant, email:
Better Welcome takes step forward
The Better Welcome Programme, which aims to improve both the tourism appeal of market towns in the region, and the subsequent economic benefits that flow from increased visitor numbers, is taking important steps forward as towns apply for funding for projects which they have identified.
This issue, we focus on projects in two towns: Cheadle and Church Stretton.
To view details of the Cheadle case study click here.
To view details of the Church Stretton case study click here.
Taylor reports on rural economy and affordable housing
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In September 2007, the Prime Minister asked Matthew Taylor (MP for Truro and St Austell) to conduct an independent review to investigate how the planning system and land use could better support the sustainability of rural communities in England.
His report outlines a series of recommendations under the themes of; a living, working countryside; Living, working market towns; Living working villages: community-led affordable housing; and Living, working rural economies; and unblocking the system.
With particular reference to Market Towns, the report outlines the potential implications for many market towns that could be subject to significant growth over the next decade. In order to achieve a more sustainable future, the report recommends using the outcomes of best practice exemplar projects, such as Poundbury (Dorset) and Easingwold (North Yorkshire). In response to the report, the CRC said:
"Matthew Taylor’s proposals for assimilating the additional growth expected in England’s market towns, grounded in the principles of sustainable development, are very helpful. A whole community approach that through design, facilities, and open space brings benefits to existing and new residents is essential if they are to become sustainable communities."
For full details on the Taylor Review of the Rural Economy and Affordable Housing can be found at: Taylor Review..
To consider the Commission for Rural Communities response to the report please visit: CRC response to Taylor Review.
Matthew Taylor spoke via video to the AMT Convention. To see the video go to:
Building a profile of West Midlands partnerships
Over the past few months amt-i have been collecting information on community and town partnerships from across the West Midlands. The aim of the work has been to build a profile of the partnerships operating in the region, ensuring that Action for Market Towns understand both the needs and requirements of membership organisations.
Using an innovative online survey, amt-i have been able to send out a hyperlink to partnerships who have then had the opportunity to complete the survey in their own time. The following bullet points provide a summary of the key findings:
• 33 partnerships completed the on-line survey
• 32% reported that their partnership was ‘Part of a Local Authority,’ whilst 29% stated that they were an ‘Informal Group.’
• 53% of the partnerships were formed between 2001-2005.
• 76% indicated that their partnership worked alongside District Councils and 74% alongside Town Councils.
• Of the partnerships who worked with District Councils; 81% reported that the local authority provided ‘Representatives’ and 69% ‘Administrative Support’,
• Of the cohort who worked with Town Councils, 68% of the partnerships stated that the Town Councils provided representatives to their ‘Management Group’.
• Half of the partnerships have a current ‘Business Plan’.
• 71% reported that the partnership had a current ‘Strategic Plan’.
• Half of the partnerships did not have ‘Secured funding for their work’.
• 68% of partnerships did not employ paid staff.
• 47% of partnerships reported that they were ‘Optimistic’ concerning the future of your Community Partnership.
The survey is being conducted in various regions across Britain, and it is hoped more partnerships from the West Midlands will complete the survey. For a more in-depth review of the key findings or to complete the online survey please contact Mike King, amt-i Senior Research Consultant on
Successful inward investment strategies
amt-i have recently led a team of consultants on a research project to identify the primary success factors leading to inward investment to work within Market Towns.
Three towns in the East of England, Wymondham, Ely and St. Neots, and Howden in East Yorkshire were used as case studies, with semi structured interviews conducted with local authorities, local traders, local residents and representatives of community organisations.
To view a summary of the research findings, go to:
Coop launches renewable energy projects
A groundbreaking environmental initiative that promises to help boost energy resources in rural areas was unveiled at the Rural Regeneration Zone Conference in Ludlow.
The Rural Regeneration Zone, which was set up by Advantage West Midlands to tackle economic, regeneration and social inclusion in Herefordshire, Shropshire and parts of Worcestershire, used the event to launch ‘Co-operative FiRE’, a £780,000 rolling fund to encourage communities to develop renewable energy schemes.
Delivered by community energy experts ‘Energy4All’, the programme will provide significant investment to support the planning stages of new social enterprises that are committed to developing energy solutions for their villages and market towns such as wind energy, hydropower and biomass.
For more information about the programme, go to:
Businesslink helps social enterprise start-ups
Business Link in the West Midlands has unveiled its Social Enterprise start-up service, which provides free one-to-one support and a range of social enterprise training modules for new starts or existing organisations thinking of adopting the business model.
The new service has been both welcomed and commended by SEWM, particularly for the quality of the specialist modules now being delivered by expert
providers across the region.
The service can be accessed by calling Business Link on 0845 113 1234.
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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.
Click here for a sample issue
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