Examination of Witnesses (Questions 170-179)
MR COLIN
DAWSON, MR
PHILIP MILLER
MBE, MR MICHAEL
BEDINGFIELD AND
MR STUART
BARROW
11 JULY 2006
Q170 Chair: Can I welcome you to this
afternoon's session on coastal towns and could I ask you to introduce
yourselves and say which organisations you are representing?
Mr Barrow: I am Stuart Barrow.
I am Government Affairs Officer at VisitBritain.
Mr Bedingfield: Good afternoon.
I am Michael Bedingfield, England Marketing Director from VisitBritain.
Mr Dawson: Good afternoon. I am
Colin Dawson. I am the Chief Executive of BALPPA.
Mr Miller: Good afternoon. I am
Philip Miller, the Managing Director of Adventure Island, Southend
on Sea.
Q171 Chair: Can I start with the
first question, which is to ask you whether you think coastal
towns have unique attributes compared with other UK visitor destinations?
Mr Dawson: Yes, I think they do.
I think the tourism product in coastal towns is one that in many
cases has been developed over generations. There is a long tradition
in our coastal towns of tourism and visitor attractions in particular,
and that is something that I think we should protect and guard
against any potential danger of ever losing.
Q172 Chair: But why is that different
from other towns that are established tourist destinations, like
Bath or London, for example?
Mr Dawson: I think one of the
simplest answers is catchment. Very often they are backed to the
sea. Half of their catchment is fish and therefore they are very
much dependent on pushing and enabling themselves on that 180
degrees as opposed to inland tourist destinations that have a
much wider and larger catchment area. Also, the road systems tend
to be so much better inland than they are on the coast.
Q173 Sir Paul Beresford: You said
"protect" but really what we ought to be looking to
do is enhance, surely.
Mr Dawson: Yes, I agree with that.
Q174 Sir Paul Beresford: Can you
give some suggestions? The knee-jerk reaction for some of the
people from some of the towns is to say, "Here is my hat.
Please fill it". I am a taxpayer, you are a taxpayer. Are
there things that Government could do to make it easier for them
to move ahead without necessarily doling out all our money?
Mr Dawson: I think there is a
partnership between the two. I think there is a partnership between
the private sector and the public sector that is where the future
lies but that needs to be a co-ordinated approach. At the moment
there is insufficient co-ordination in the development of many
of the tourist destinations that we have around the UK, particularly
on the coast, and I think it is that lack of guidance and that
lack of co-ordination that is causing some of the difficulties
they are facing.
Q175 Sir Paul Beresford: How would
suggest that comes about?
Mr Dawson: I would suggest some
form of a national policy coming from the Government and coming
down through the regions giving a much firmer direction to the
local authorities and the regions to help put that right.
Q176 Sir Paul Beresford: Why through
the regions? Why not something that is related to the coast?
Mr Dawson: I think it is generally
accepted that the regions are getting more and more say in what
happens in our areas now and as a consequence of that they need
to be very firmly in the loop.
Q177 Chair: Can I bring in VisitBritain?
What would you feel about whether coastal towns are different
from other places?
Mr Barrow: It depends which coastal
town you mean. If you are talking about Deal it does not have
the same profile as, say, Poole would have or a seaside resort
town like Scarborough. You mentioned Bath. If you are interested
in Regency architecture in Bath or Cheltenham you might see Brighton
as a Regency architecture site you would want to go and see, so
it depends what your motivation would be. Obviously, seaside resort
towns are different from cities but seaside cities will have the
same market profile as cities inland.
Q178 Sir Paul Beresford: What do
you suggest to improve things?
Mr Barrow: It is up to the local
authority. The interests of the local authority in creating a
bigger tourist market will lead it to make its own policies and
that is for them to decide[1].
Q179 Chair: Do both groups think that
English coastal towns have a viable economic future?
Mr Bedingfield: Absolutely. What
we have seen recently is rejuvenation of many coastal towns. There
has always been an historic appeal of coastal towns and I think
rejuvenation by both the public and the private sector gives that
longevity.
1 As a Non-Departmental Public Body, VisitBritain is
not a lobbying organisation. We do, however, have a remit to advise
government. We would refer the Committee to our earlier written
evidence to this Inquiry in which we set out our advice for the
"OOs and Rs of visitability". The visitability measures
could certainly improve things in certain local authority areas
should they not already employ them. However, it is not for us
to lobby particular councils explicitly to erect particular structures
etc, though we will, of course consider proffering advice if a
council asks for it. Back
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