Memorandum submitted by East Riding of
Yorkshire Council
1. BACKGROUND
ON THE
EAST RIDING
OF YORKSHIRE
AREA AND
TOURISM
1.1 East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC)
is England's largest unitary authority council by area, covering
930 square miles—this is 17% of the Yorkshire and Humber
region. The relatively sparse population is around 325,000, of
which 50% live in areas classed as urban (including the larger
market towns) and 50% live in areas classed as rural. 20% of
the population live in its coastal communities with the resort
of Bridlington being the largest individual settlement with a
population of 33,600. The most densely populated area is, however,
the suburban fringe settlements around Hull which together are
home to around 70,000 people. The administrative boundary of
Hull City Council is therefore smaller than the functional urban
area—a factor which is strongly reflected in the Hull and
Humber Ports City Region Development Programme. The western part
of the East Riding abuts the City of York.
1.2 East Yorkshire has a diverse range of
cultural, natural and built assets which attract visitors, boasting:
— A lengthy, varied and attractive
coastline, extending 52 miles (84.5km) from the chalk headland
at Flamborough through to Spurn Point and the Humber Estuary
— Superb countryside ranging from the
East Yorkshire Wolds to the Holderness Plain
— A rich cultural heritage including
historic remains from prehistoric and archaeological sites to
stately homes, historic houses and ecclesiastical buildings
— Historic towns ranging from Beverley,
Goole, Howden and Hedon to the market towns of the Wolds
— One of the East Coast's most popular
seaside resorts, Bridlington, and the smaller seaside towns of
Hornsea and Withernsea
— A diverse and growing programme of
festivals, events, and other cultural activities
— Sporting and leisure opportunities
from walking and cycling, including the Trans Pennine Trail and
Wolds Way, to sailing, angling and bird watching
— Proximity to other major tourist
destinations, including the cities of Hull and York, the North
Yorkshire Moors National Park and the resort of Scarborough.
1.3 Tourism is therefore a key economic
driver, generating spend and supporting employment. However, it
is true to say that the tourism offer is in many areas under-developed
and disparate. The East Riding Local Strategic Partnership (LSP)
recognises, through its Economic Development and Tourism Strategies,
the need for further investment in the tourism "product"
and its branding.
1.4 Formed in 2006, Visit Hull & East
Yorkshire (VHEY) is the area's Destination Management Organisation
with responsibility for generating increased tourism activity
in Hull and East Yorkshire through a range of innovative marketing
activities, tourism business support and product development.
1.5 Using the Cambridge Model, (and being
mindful of its inadequacies, which are referred to later in the
submission) the estimated value and volume of tourism to the Hull
and East Riding economy in 2004 was:
1.6 As well as its role as an economic driver,
tourism also contributes to the social and environmental well-being
of East Yorkshire. ERYC is a member of the British Resorts and
Destinations Association and we fully support its very comprehensive
submission to this Inquiry. We feel, however, that it would be
helpful to amplify a few points of most direct concern to local
authorities.
2. EAST RIDING
OF YORKSHIRE
COUNCIL'S
ROLE IN
TOURISM
2.1 In December 2005, as part of the Comprehensive
Performance Assessment, the Audit Commission ranked East Riding
of Yorkshire Council as "improving strongly" and as
one of only a few councils in the country to demonstrate this
level of continued improvement. It was the only unitary council
to gain four stars in all aspects of its Management of Resources
in 2006-07.
2.2 Notwithstanding the policy changes and
pressures identified in BRADA's response, this Council's Tourism
Policy still sees its role, working through the DMO, to provide
strategic direction to the local tourism industry. Of prime importance
is providing a strategic and operational role in maintaining a
high quality physical environment.
As the Tourism Strategy states:
2.3 There is an inextricable link between
tourism and the need to maintain the public realm. Visitors after
all, are no more than residents with suitcases. If the town or
region is attractive to visitors, then it is also attractive for
residents. National pride, local pride and self confidence all
benefit. Confidence in an area can be boosted through its perceived
attractiveness to visitors. There are a wide range of local authority
services which impact directly on the visitor, including:
— Sport and leisure facilities
— Beach and foreshore management
— Conservation of the natural environment
— Preservation of historic buildings
— Building and planning control
— Footpath maintenance and development
— Car parks and park and ride schemes
2.4 Furthermore, with relatively small and
geographically dispersed settlements, we must regard the vast
majority of tourist attractions as part of the wider cultural
offer for residents. This means that many arts and cultural centres,
for example need to be multi-purpose and will remain in the ownership
and management of the public or non-profit sectors. This is in
contrast to larger resorts and destinations where the norm would
be for them to be run as self-financing or fully commercial concerns
geared more exclusively to attracting visitors.
2.5 The funding of this activity and its
impact on Council priorities is, we feel, one of the major challenges
for the domestic and inbound tourism industries. The majority
of these services are discretionary and for authorities not in
receipt of large area-based initiatives there is a constant tension
between the need to invest both capital and revenue in statutory
service delivery and the discretionary services that shape places.
This leaves Councils like the East Riding highly dependent on
external funding to support measures to improve the visitor offer.
However, despite the development of regional cultural partnerships,
such as Yorkshire Culture, and the redesign of regional tourism
structures in line with "Tomorrow's Tourism Today",
there appears to be no coherence between the main funding bodies
in terms of support for tourism investment beyond regional "icons"
and 2012.
2.6 We have also found something of a divergence
between the requirement for investment to be embedded in a long
term and comprehensive strategic plan and a willingness to provide
support beyond the "flagship" stage. Within the Yorkshire
and Humber Region, the Renaissance Towns programme, especially
where the selected towns coincide with availability of EU Structural
Funds has been vitally important in delivering some major improvements
to public realm and new and improved cultural facilities. Whilst
we fully endorse the need for achieving the maximum "leverage",
regional agencies appear to have unrealistic expectations about
the level of local authority and private sector contributions
that can be achieved. It has to be recognised for many rural
and coastal communities, there is a long process of "seeing
is believing" and we are still faced with front-loaded programmes
which pull the funding rug, just as communities' aspirations have
been raised.
3. THE ROLE
OF THE
VOLUNTARY AND
NON-PROFIT
SECTOR
3.1 BRADA's response sets out very clearly
the pressures that face tourism-related businesses. We would also
point out that many visitor attractions and facilities are owned
and managed by third sector organizations, such as the several
Trusts and religious bodies which, largely through volunteer effort,
sustain many of our heritage assets, including canals, ancient
churches and other ancient monuments and museums. We must also
not forget the role of town and parish councils which are often
at the "sharp end" of delivering grounds maintenance,
street cleansing and car parking services.
3.2 Such organisations have many and varied
specialisms, but most have very limited marketing and business
development capacity and may be restricted by their charitable
status. If we are to fully develop "experiential" marketing
in line with the DMO approach, there must bespoke business advice
and support for these organisations that links into major marketing
campaigns and engenders collaborations with the major visitor
attractions, hotel and guest houses, etc.
4. WHAT DATA
ON TOURISM
WOULD USEFULLY
INFORM GOVERNMENT
POLICY ON
TOURISM
4.1 It has been acknowledged for many years
that the Cambridge Local Area Model and other existing methodologies
are not sufficiently accurate for policy making and expenditure
decisions. We feel that a concerted effort to develop a sophisticated
econometric model to cover tourism, culture and the public realm
is needed. This need exists at all levels—to assist town
and parish councils in determining and justifying decision to
precept, to strengthen the process of business planning for individual
projects, to enable tourism-related projects to be evaluated and
prioritised more effectively against other economic development
measures and to assist with Planning decisions, as well as to
show broad impacts on visitor numbers and spend over time.
4.2 What has also emerged over the past
few years with increased community involvement in budget setting
and Spatial Planning is the difficulty in demonstrating that investment
in tourism-related facilities and services represents good use
of local authority budgets. Exercises such as SIMALTO take into
account resident council tax payers views, rather than those of
visitors, and have revealed a strong degree of ambivalence. Of
the list of activities in paragraph 2.3 above, residents tend
to prioritise those such as parks and open spaces and footpath
maintenance that most affect their daily lives. The budget setting
process cannot adequately compare the potential economic impacts
of spending decisions.
5. THE PRACTICALITY
OF PROMOTING
MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY
FRIENDLY FORMS
OF TOURISM
5.1 Again, BRADA has recorded the key points.
However, we wish to raise one issue regarding Spatial Planning
policy. Whilst the "Planning for Tourism" Best Practice
Guidance 2006 encourages a proactive approach, we are experiencing
an element of inconsistency with the base Planning Policy Statement,
PPS7 Sustainable Development in Rural Areas. This states that
in order to encourage sustainable development "The Government
expects most tourist accommodation requiring new buildings to
be located in, or adjacent to, existing towns and villages",
whilst also encouraging good quality farm diversification schemes.
5. We plan further research on the sustainability
impacts of different forms and locations of tourism accommodation
to inform the development of our Local Development Framework,
but feel that adjacency to existing towns and villages is not
necessarily a prime factor in achieving sustainable development
or preserving the character of rural communities. We also see
scope for more a more integrated system to generate industry-agreed
benchmarks for environmentally sustainable forms of tourism.
October 2007
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