ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLANNING, TOURISM AND LEISURE SERVICES SELECT
COMMITTEE - 1 APRIL 2004
CONSULTATION IN THE PREPARATION OF THE SANDOWN BAY REGENERATION STRATEGY
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM
The Chairman has requested that this issue be considered by the Select
Committee.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
To make recommendations as appropriate
BACKGROUND
The development and production of the Sandown Bay Regeneration Strategy was overseen by a steering group of organisations having an interest in the Sandown Bay area. The membership of the steering group is shown in Appendix 1.
The group was responsible for the production of the study brief,
including the determination of the required outputs. It also selected the final consulting team to undertake the
production of the strategy and met with it on a number of occasions to ensure
the project was on track, direct future project work and act as a “sounding
board” for the emerging proposals.
The consultation work undertaken by the Arup led consulting
team can be considered across a number of target groups as follows:-
Two public meetings were organised. The first at Sandown and Shanklin Rugby Club on 18 August 2003 involved a presentation of the study approach and discussions in small workshop groups of the key issues facing the Bay area. The meeting was attended by approximately 75 – 100 people, it was advertised in the County Press and by the distribution of flyers/posters in the Bay area.
On 20 October 2003 a second public meeting was held at
Shanklin Theatre. It was also
publicised by way of flyers/posters in the Bay area and by an advert in the
County Press. The purpose of the
meeting was for the consulting team to present its initial study findings and
receive feedback on them from the public.
The meeting was attended by 50 - 75 people.
An interview-led street survey of visitors was conducted in
both Sandown and Shanklin during August 2003.
The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the views, perceptions and
opinions of the resort from the visitors’ perspective. In total, 300 visitors were surveyed.
A stakeholder consultation event involving (amongst others), Council officers, SEEDA, the local community partnerships, the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership, local business associations, landowners and developers in the area was organised on 18 August 2003.
These organisations were invited by personal letter from the Portfolio holder for Tourism and Leisure and approximately 40 – 50 attended.
It was staged at Sandown and Shanklin Rugby Club. The purpose of the event was to outline the proposed study approach and to identify with the stakeholders some of the key issues and challenges facing the area. This meeting was separate to that arranged for the general public.
The consulting team presented, and discussed, its initial study findings to a second stakeholder meeting on 20 October 2003, at Shanklin Theatre. Invitations were issued as for the first meeting and approximately 50 - 60 people attended. Again, the meeting was separate to the public meeting arranged for the same day.
A number of one-to-one and clinic style interviews were also conducted with many of the key stakeholders in the area. These were undertaken to enable the consulting team to get into the emerging issues to a greater depth with some of the “key players” in the area. A list of those consulted in this way is attached in Appendix 2.
On 14 January 2004 the consulting team presented to and discussed its final strategy for the regeneration of Sandown Bay with:-
· The Council’s Executive
· The Sandown Bay Steering Group
· A joint meeting of stakeholders and general public – attended by approximately 180 people
RELEVANT PLANS,
POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS
Tourism is estimated to be worth £312 million to the Island’s economy and to support 1 in 3 jobs (directly and indirectly).
In March 2002 Council debated the strategic importance of tourism to
the Island and recognised that tourism was the “Island’s major industry” and is
the future key to prosperity.
Developing Tourism is one of the seven themes of the Community
Strategy, to be achieved through, in the main, the development of a tourism
development plan.
Tourism is encapsulated in the Council’s Corporate Plan Objective of
“encouraging job creation and economic prosperity”. This identifies that the industry has great potential to expand
on the Island and that the Council seeks to work with partners to “support
development of the Island as one of the UK’s leading tourist and leisure
destinations”. The production of the Sandown
Bay Regeneration Strategy was one of the identified outposts in the Council’s
2003/04 Annual Action Plan.
The recently produced draft Island Cultural Strategy recognised the
importance of the links between cultural services and tourism. One of its six themes relates to the
development of all-year round tourism and part of its overall aims is to use
cultural services to “assist in underpinning the Island’s tourism industry”.
As set out in the report.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL,
CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
None for the Council arising out of this report. Members may wish to know however that the
total cost of producing the strategy was £70,000. Half of this sum was funded by Tourism South East and the Market
Towns Initiative. The balance was
funded directly by the Council.
APPENDICES
ATTACHED
Appendix 1 : Membership of the Sandown Bay Regeneration
Steering Group
Appendix 2 : Persons interviewed, one to one or clinic
style in the study preparation
Appendix 3 : Flyers/Posters used to advertise the two public consultation
meetings
BACKGROUND PAPERS
USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT
Sandown Bay
Regeneration Strategy – Interim Report (November 2003)
Sandown Bay
Regeneration Strategy – Final Report, (December 2003)
Contact Point :
John Metcalfe, F 3825 e-mail [email protected]
JOHN
METCALFE
Head
of Community Development and Tourism
Appendix 1
Walter Heinrich - Sandown Community Partnership
Ron Teasdale - Sandown Town Council
Tim Hunter-Henderson - Federation of Small Businesses
Ian Hunt - Lake Parish Council
Peter Colling - Tourism South East
Annie Horne - Managing Director, Wight Leisure
Councillor John Fleming - Isle of Wight Council
Dave Jeffery - Shanklin Community Partnership
Penny Woolley - Sandown Community Partnership
Jacquie Mereweather - Sandown Community Partnership
Councillor Peggy Jarman - Isle of Wight Council
Mrs. N.J. Caley - Shanklin Town Council
Joanna Richards - Isle of Wight Economic Partnership
Liz Wood - “ “ “ “ “
Ashley Curzon - Planning Unit, Isle of Wight Council
Councillor Heather Humby - Isle of Wight Council
John Tiedeman - Shanklin Community Partnership
Councillor David Williams - Isle of Wight Council
Mary Scott-Jackson - Isle of Wight Council
John Metcalfe - “ “ “
Rita Williams - “ “ “
Mark Dowling - Tourism South East
Appendix 2
Peter Colling - Tourism South East
Liz Wood - Isle of Wight Economic Partnership
Councillor John Fleming - IWC; Portfolio holder for Tourism and Leisure
Councillor Harry Rees - IWC; Portfolio holder for Economic Development and ..
Rita Williams - IWC; Acting Head of Tourism
Catherine Carkeet - IWC; Membership Liaison Officer, Isle of Wight Tourism
Annie Horne - IWC; Managing Director, Wight Leisure
John Sands - IWC; Project Development Manager, Wight Leisure
Morris Barton - Independent Consultant – representing key developers
Gerry Moglioni - IW Sports Council
Trisha Stillman - IWC; Esplanade/Seafront Management
Maria Wilkinson - IWC; Arts Officer
Nikki Haytack - IWC; Crime and Disorder Partnership
Peter Pusey - IW General Manager, Dinosaur Isle
Dave Groocock, Simon Dabell and Chris Thie - Island Tourist Industry Association
Ron Teasdale, Councillor Heather Humby, - Sandown Partnership
Angie Callaghan
Greg Hayles/Colin Hayles - Sandown Zoo
Neil Gibbs, Kevin Smith, Dave Groocock, - Misc. Business interests.
Simon Dabell