Breadcrumbs
Second Stage Beacon Towns - 13 January 2004
Six towns have been selected as national beacons to show how England’s market towns can provide more jobs, housing and services for their residents and communities in the surrounding rural areas, the Countryside Agency announced today (13 January). The six towns, all of which have participated in the national Market Towns Initiative, are the latest to be designated as Beacon Towns. They have been chosen for their potential to show other market towns how to tackle the challenges that face them.
The six new beacon towns are: Brigg in North Lincolnshire; Carterton in Oxfordshire; Keswick and Longtown in Cumbria; Newmarket in Suffolk, and Thirsk in North Yorkshire.
Each town has been chosen to demonstrate how best to tackle a particular issue or range of issues, such as community safety, development of business opportunities and resources, housing, and access to leisure, arts and recreation. The towns were selected, in consultation with local partners, from more than 200 market towns taking part in the Countryside Agency’s Market Towns Initiative.
Richard Wakeford, Countryside Agency chief executive, said: “Our research shows that our country towns face many challenges. They also have great potential, not only as traditional service centres, but also as centres for tourism and new business. The Beacon Towns' stories will be used to inform the work of other town partnerships around the country, and to influence policy makers and local, regional and national organisations interested in sustainable rural development.
“Our first nine beacon towns, which were announced last year highlighted some typical issues of concern, such as: how to re-use valuable but difficult to utilise vacant space in a town centre; how to improve the provision of services for young people and families, and how market towns can become the hub for local food production, marketing, and distribution. The set of six we are announcing today will demonstrate ways to tackle the problems many rural communities face - learning from and sharing the results are the core of the Countryside Agency’s work.
“The Beacon Towns initiative is part of the Government’s programme following the Rural White Paper, highlighting lessons learned locally so that all parts of the country can learn and benefit,” concluded Mr Wakeford.
The Rural White Paper 2000 recognised the crucial role that market towns play in rural life and tasked the Countryside Agency with developing and promoting a market towns health-check, to identify good practice and identify and support a national beacon town network as part of an overall approach to revitalising market towns in partnership with the regional development agencies.
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Working with the regional development agencies, the Countryside Agency’s Market Towns Initiative aims to bring a new lease of life to market towns so they provide access to the services that communities depend on. The initiative includes a toolkit containing practical guidance on how to do a market town health-check and advice about community participation, funding, for projects, training, transport and business support. All towns can access the toolkit at: www.countryside.gov.uk/market-towns.
The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone. Funds for our market towns work come through Defra’s annual grant in aid to the Agency.
Appendix A
Beacon Towns – 2nd Group
Partnership & region | Topic | Project Summary & Comments |
Keswick, North West | Business Improvement | To test the suitability of BIDs ( Business Improvement Districts) to contribute to the revitalisation of their (and other) market towns. A BID is a partnership through which local authorities and the local business community can take forward schemes that will benefit the trading environment and the public realm. Contact: Tina Smith, Project Officer, 017687 74144 tinasmith@keswickap.fsnet.co.uk |
Longtown, NorthWest | Renewable Energy | The partnership will look at the role renewable energy might play as part of the rejuvenation of market towns. It will explore alternative forms of energy and establish which technologies are most promising. Contact: Pat Jefferson, Co-ordinator, 01228 792778 PatJ@carlisle-city.gov.uk |
Brigg, Yorkshire and The Humber | Access to Leisure, Arts & Recreation
| The partnership will investigate the practicalities of integrating sports, arts and leisure facilities and activities in and around a market town, not least because of the service market towns can offer in providing leisure and social facilities for surrounding villages. Contact: Harvey Dowdy, 01845 524964 |
Thirsk, Yorkshire and The Humber | Community Safety | To show how a “Crime & Community Safety” health-check can help develop both the skills and capacity of local people, and community-based initiatives designed to reduce crime. Contact: Louise Glover, 01652 657257 |
Newmarket, East of England | Housing | To take a “town & hinterland” view housing key workers, and to test and develop participative approaches to local housing design and development, and feed the findings into the Local Development Framework. Contact: George Lambton, 01638 664480 GLambton@compuserve.com |
Carterton, South East | Community & Town Planning | To use a Town Design approach to reconnect design and construction with the surrounding landscape by promoting sustainable, high quality buildings and an approach to development in line with the Countryside Agency’s “New Vernacular” work. Contact: C atherine Chater, 01993 842156 |
First tranche of Beacon Towns announced July 2003
Barnard Castle with Middleton-in-Teesdale, Durham
Demonstrates how a public/private sector partnership can maximise the potential of broadband technology in developing new businesses, increasing uptake of e-commerce amongst rural businesses.Belper, Derbyshire
Demonstrating effective ways of re-using vacant and under-used building space within the market town.
Bridport, Dorset
Has developed a centre providing business support and workspace for local food enterprises.
Faringdon, Oxfordshire
Business Links, community partnerships and others will be involved in demonstrating how an enterprise gateway in a market town can be used as a model for business support in rural areas.
Richmond, North Yorkshire
Demonstrates how heritage and environment can be used as a driver for economic revitalisation in a typical English market town setting.
Hexham and Haltwhistle, Northumberland
A project to address young people's services in Hexham and family services in Haltwhistle including: ICT, skills training, housing, transport, victim support, crime prevention, youth services and Business Link.
Whitby, North Yorkshire
The town is developing as a model for sustainable tourism, building upon the needs and opportunities identified in the Market Towns health-check.
Wolverton, Milton Keynes
Demonstrates how small market towns acting as rural service centres can attract inward investment and private sector engagement, as a result of undertaking the Countryside Agency’s Market Towns health-check and developing an action plan.
