Hidden Britain Project Case Studies. Farnham. Project Case Study

Transcription

1 Farnham Project Case Study 1

2 Supported By From November 2006 the England Rural Development Programme has been implemented by SEEDA. Hidden Britain is a programme managed under the existing scheme and supported by Defra, Tourism South East, and SERCC. The project works to ensure social and economic growth in rural communities across the South East through small tourism initiatives. SERCC is the regional umbrella organisation of the eight Rural Community Councils across the South East. RCCs are independent, county-based, rural community development charities, providing support and advice to rural community organisations and individuals. They are the major rural VCS stakeholder in a range of local, regional and national funding and support initiatives in the delivery of public services. They also provide infrastructure support to rural voluntary and community groups in both generic and specialist arenas. Tourism South East is the regional body dedicated to fostering tourism growth and innovation in the region; a partnership of industry with regional and local government. 2

3 Why Evaluate? Contents About this report Project Report Overview of project. Need for the project. Planning of the project. Who is involved? Status of funding. What is included? Project implementation. Who has benefited? Hidden Britain input. Achievements. Lessons Learned Future plans About this report This report is intended to describe the process used and results delivered by an individual Hidden Britain project. It covers all the major elements of the project so it can be used as a case-study for other communities. In order to make this as useful as possible it is presented in an objective light with attention paid to the failings as well as the successes. 3

4 Overview of project This project aimed to develop a holistic Farnham tourism product that embraced not just the town but its surrounding area as well. It planned to deliver not only the elements key in attracting and informing visitors, but also looking to build the local capacity for tourism and give the rural businesses a real voice within the structure. the vast majority of visitors are unaware what lies within a few miles of the town itself. In addition the area does not have a cohesive tourism brand, strategy or any kind of forum. As such the rural businesses are not receiving fair share of the benefit derived from tourism, and the entire tourism offer is fragmented and based on the reputation of the larger attractions. A further complication has been the recent move by Waverley Borough Council who decided to close the Farnham Tourism Information Centre at the end of March This now leaves the entire area with no central information provision for visitors, on top of this Surrey County Council has recently made the decision not to renew the recently vacated county tourism officer position. Planning of the project Need for the project Farnham itself is a medium sized market town on the western edge of both Surrey and the Surrey Hills. Farnham s particular tourism offer is based around its excellent shopping, historic Georgian buildings, and its many creative institutions. The rural area around Farnham is characterised by small villages, rolling landscape and many varied attractions. Despite this Farnham is only really known for its town centre attractions, Farnham as the focal hub of the area undertook the Countryside Agency s Market Town s Healthcheck in 200.

5 August 2005 which were well attended by both tourism businesses and local organisations. These sessions highlighted the key issues and also were an informal brainstorm for ideas and concepts to take forward. From this data and feedback the group developed an action plan of tourism projects. Who was involved? One of the major themes that returned from the consultation was that more needs to be done to safeguard the future vibrancy of the town and area. There was also a general realisation that tourism and visitor input is a realistic path to rejuvenate the area, but that a concerted cluster approach is needed in order to develop tourism sustainably and ensure it makes a valuable contribution across the whole area. This initiative planned to provide the key infrastructure, tourist information, interpretation and promotion in order to allow the rural business to become part of a holistic Farnham and area product. In order to take projects forward a local partnership was formed, comprising representatives from; Farnham Town Council, Farnham Chamber of Commerce, local businesses, and the University College for the Creative Arts. With the advice and support of Hidden Britain and Farnham Town Council, the partnership was able to turn the action plan into achievable objectives by securing funding. Status of funding 1,015 grant obtained from England Early in 2005, Hidden Britain approached Farnham Town Council to explain how Hidden Britain could assist in achieving the tourism objectives of the Healthcheck. Research was gathered through a tourism product audit and using this as a base two stakeholder workshops were held in 5

6 students. Redesign the visitor dedicated portion of the Farnham website, to provide an attractive first port-ofcall for prospective visitors. Produce a new In and around Farnham leaflet. Promoting not only the town itself but also its surroundings. Rural Development Programme, Rural Enterprise Scheme in April This was matched by an estimated 3,600 of in-kind time and contribution from local businesses and organisations. What was included? Undertake a destination Benchmarking visitor survey, tourism audit and SWOT analysis to provide a baseline of tourism data. Set-up and develop a Farnham tourism forum, for all organisation and businesses of the area with a visitor interest. The body will enable cooperation between businesses and will help direct future tourism developments. Project implementation Tourism South East was commissioned to undertake the full visitor survey, as no survey had been done in the Farnham area since The final results were delivered in November The project group worked on the questionnaire to ensure it was tailored to Farnham and would provide useful data for future work. The website was redeveloped by Farnham Town Council with input from the project group. Develop a new Farnham area logo. This was to be run as a competition for students from UCCA, thereby utilising local talent and providing a live project for local 6

7 The project group worked with the University College for the creative arts to develop a brief for the design of the Farnham logo and brand which could be set for final year students as a live project. 21 students entered and the top ten exhibited their work to the judging panel at Farnham Castle. The judges who incorporated many of the tourism concerns of the area finally settled for Caroline Phillips design which is to become the new brand for Farnham, and be incorporated in all tourism developments in future. New maps of the town and area were commissioned. These provided the basis of the new leaflet. The group provided an editorial function during the creation of the leaflet which was finalised in March 2007 and is now distributed right across the project area and further afield. Spearheaded by Farnham Town Council, the existing visitor s council has been reconstituted and reorganized into the Farnham Visitors Forum and is now taking an active part in pushing tourism forward with new ideas and initiatives for the town and area. Who benefits? In terms of tourism the project has delivered Farnham a cohesive, holistic visitor package, which provides benefits to all the businesses of the area. In the absence of support for tourism in both the district and county councils, this initiative has the potential to allow Farnham to stand on its own two feet as a destination. This is particularly important for supporting the rural businesses outside of the town itself and by including them makes Farnham a more enticing destination. As in all tourism projects the benefits from this will in main be to the local businesses by increasing visitor spend, however the community of the area as a whole will profit through the boost this will give to the local economy. 7

8 The formation of the forum and the work with the UCCA students on developing the new logo have provided platforms to bring together many groups within the community and has inspired a new sense of purpose and cooperation. Many of those involved have gained new skills and confidence, particularly the students who participated. In delivering this project, a good crosssection of the community has been involved thereby ensuring this project has really been driven at a local level. Hidden Britain input The Hidden Britain Development Officer (James Turner (JT)), was involved from early on. Picking up from a TSE supported tourism workshop, JT worked with Farnham Town Council to bring together local stakeholders and facilitated several brainstorming and planning sessions. He also worked to research the tourism product audit. JT then worked with the project group to refine and draw up the action plan and funding bid. He also provided ongoing project mentoring and support to the local group. JT then worked to draw up the plans for the brand contest, assisting in the initial judging and co-facilitated the final judging event. He recently facilitated and co-organised a stakeholder event for the newly formed Visitors forum to start drawing up the next phase of the strategy. Achievements Quality of work produced by the UCCA students Involvement of a large number of tourism businesses Momentum maintained for future projects Level of support from Farnham Town Council Level of in-kind contributions raised 8

9 Lessons learnt Colleges & University have a great potential to help deliver projects High level of business involvement can generate sustainability Local administration support and leadership is vital Businesses face harsher time constraints than volunteers Difficult to generate interest in all areas of the community in larger populations. Future Plans An evaluation is underway with assistance from JT in order to determine the effectiveness of the project so far. Work is also underway on a new version of the heritage trail leaflet. This is being funded by Farnham Town Council but designed by Caroline Phillips, the winning student in the brand contest. July 2007 to start developing the second stage projects for tourism in Farnham. Facilitated by JT the attendees conducted a tourism SWOT and worked to identify key issues and brainstormed for new ideas. Follow-up meetings are planned to prioritise and draw up a new action plan. A stakeholder meeting was held on 19 th 9