Market Town Welcome
Destination Plan for Chester-le-Street
July 2010
“Chester-le-Street - a great north market town, home of the Emirates Durham International Cricket
Ground and proud of its Christian heritage”
Report to Visit County Durham, Durham County Council and Chester-le-Street Area
Action Partnership
By Alison Caffyn, with the support of tourism partners in Chester-le-Street
Alison Caffyn
Tourism Research Consultant
Little Bury Farm
Luston
Leominster
Herefordshire, HR6 0EB
www alisoncaffyn.co.uk
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................2
1.1
Background and rationale ..................................................................................................2
1.2
Strategic Context - regional, county and town ....................................................................3
1.3
Process and partnership ....................................................................................................5
Vision and Objectives ..................................................................................................6
2.1
Vision Statement for Chester-le-Street...............................................................................6
2.2
Overall Objectives of the Destination Plan .........................................................................7
Visitors to Chester-le-Street ........................................................................................8
3.1
Survey Results...................................................................................................................8
3.2
Current Visitor Profiles and Segmentation .........................................................................9
3.3
Visitor of the Future..........................................................................................................10
The Tourism Offer ......................................................................................................12
4.1
What does our town offer visitors? ...................................................................................12
4.2
SWOT Analysis................................................................................................................15
4.3
Meeting future visitor expectations...................................................................................16
4.4
New developments currently planned ..............................................................................16
Destination Management and Promotion.................................................................17
5.1
The Strategy ....................................................................................................................17
5.2
The future visitor experience............................................................................................17
5.3
Destination priorities ........................................................................................................18
Action Plan..................................................................................................................19
6.1
Introduction......................................................................................................................19
6.2
Chester-le-Street Destination Plan – Action Plan .............................................................20
6.3
Key projects.....................................................................................................................25
6.4
Common themes to develop with other towns..................................................................36
6.5
Taking the Plan Forward..................................................................................................37
Annexes ......................................................................................................................39
7.1
Market Town Welcome Template.....................................................................................40
7.2
Market Town Welcome in Chester-le-Street - Participants ...............................................41
7.3
Tourism Audit...................................................................................................................42
7.4
Visitor Market Segments..................................................................................................56
1
1.
Introduction
This Destination Plan for Chester-le-Street sets out agreed common priorities for developing and
promoting Chester-le-Street as a destination. It is designed to be a working document that can be
added to as the town and its partners identify new opportunities for development and is intended to
steer a way forward over the next 5-10 years.
The purpose of the plan is to:
•
Develop the tourism potential of Chester-le-Street and strengthen its identity for visitors
•
Provide a framework and rationale for investment and development planning in the tourism
sector within the town
•
Identify priority actions
•
Clarify how partners and agencies can work together to deliver the destination plan
1.1
Background and rationale
Objectives of Market Town Welcome
The Market Town Welcome Programme has involved developing destination plans for market towns
in County Durham. The Programme aims to complement other local and regional regeneration
strategies and initiatives and to take a tourism perspective to each of the market towns – viewing
them through a visitor’s eyes as a destination. Four towns had destination plans written in March
2009: Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Seaham and Stanhope. Chester-le-Street’s plan has
followed a year later during spring 2010.
The Objectives of the Programme are:
•
Developing the tourism potential of each town
•
Inputting to investment/development planning
•
Harnessing private sector potential
•
Using the destination plan to support funding bids
•
Encouraging collaboration and cross fertilisation of ideas
•
Strengthening the identity of each town for visitors
•
Boosting the visitor economy in each town
Background to Market Town Welcome
Market Town Welcome originated in 2008 when One North East commissioned Miller Research and
Alison Caffyn to develop a methodology to generate destination plans, initially for six market towns
in Northumberland: Berwick, Alnwick, Seahouses, Wooler, Haltwhistle and Amble. Since then
Guisborough, Cleveland; Hexham and Morpeth, Northumberland; and now the five County Durham
towns have been going through the same process.
The Market Town Welcome process was developed to incorporate the principles of the ‘VICE model’
for local destination management. This model was developed by the national tourism agencies and
Tourism Management Institute to encourage the sustainable development of tourism. It aims to
ensure positive outcomes for Visitors, the tourism Industry, local Communities and the built and
natural Environment. So the destination plans aim to develop tourism which:
•
Welcomes, involves and satisfies
Visitors
•
Achieves a prosperous and profitable
Industry
2
•
Engages and benefits host
Communities
•
Protects and enhances the local
Environment
Why welcome visitors?
The visitor economy is particularly significant in rural areas where there are few alternatives and
traditional industries such as agriculture or mining have declined. Tourism has increasingly been
seen as a vital element in the regeneration of an area. Not only does the visitor economy support
businesses, jobs and the suppliers to those businesses, but visitors’ spending also helps support
local heritage, culture (eg festivals and events) and community services (buses, shops, pubs, post
offices). Tourism is also a reason to conserve special buildings, historic buildings, beautiful
landscapes and important wildlife sites.
Figures for County Durham in 20091 reveal that there were:
•
16.34 million day visitors spending nearly £362 million
•
1.5 million staying visitors staying 4 million nights and spending about £292 million
•
Total revenue generated £654 million
•
Supporting 9,056 jobs directly in the visitor economy and another 2,204 jobs in other sectors
indirectly
Figures for Chester-le-Street in 20062 estimated that the district received 2.6 m visitors spending
£67m, supporting 1,346 jobs.
1.2
Strategic Context - regional, county and town
The strategic context for this work is the Regional Economic Strategy which aims to foster the
renaissance of key rural settlements as drivers of regional growth. The North East England Tourism
Strategy (2005-10) identified market towns as key elements in the attraction of the North East for
visitors and proposed that towns should develop plans to make improvements in facilities to meet
the needs of increased visitors. It highlighted the potential for making more of regional food,
improved shopping and public art as well as basics such as visitor information and signing. Studies
have also been completed into developing cruise tourism along the North East coastline and into the
potential for making more of events and festivals.
A new regional Tourism Strategy is in preparation By One North East which aims to significantly
improve visitor yield and tourism growth – increasing the numbers of visitors and earnings per
visitor, whilst reducing seasonal and spatial disparities in growth across the region. In terms of the
positioning of the North East’s tourism product the following table illustrates the current thinking
going into the new strategy and has been borne in mind in developing this destination plan.
1
STEAM
2
2006 STEAM breakdown quoted in CLS Draft Tourism Strategy 2007
3
Strong and differentiated regional positioning
Appealing to market trends
Different from competitors
•
Authenticity, rooted in local culture
•
•
An escape from everyday pressures,
with a relaxed pace and lots of space
Distinctive regional culture, with a friendly
‘down to earth’ welcome
•
Unexpected pleasures – landmarks,
landscapes, townscape, scenery,
beaches, food etc.
A personalised, quality experience, not
seeking mass market appeal
•
A sence of place and space
•
Relaxed cities with a party sole
•
Opportunities to let your hair down and
celebrate
•
Heritage of regional pride and industrial
innovation
•
Places to meet that are different and
special
•
Unusual, high quality venues for
meetings and events
•
Value for money
•
Close proximity of urban areas, attractive
countryside, quality beaches and
dramatic heritage
•
Other key documents are studies on maximising the potential of heritage tourism in the North East,
led by ONE, English Heritage and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Framework
for North East England’s Coastal Visitor Economy produced in 2006.
At a County level the key document is the County Durham Area Tourism Management Plan
(ATMaP) produced by Visit County Durham (VCD). It identifies priorities for a successful visitor
economy in County Durham as:
•
Business Performance
•
Information Services
•
Marketing
•
Product Development
•
Visitor Experience
•
Workforce Development
The development and implementation of Market Town Destination Development Plans is listed as a
priority within the ATMaP, with the aim of extending visitors stays by optimising the potential of town
centres to draw visitors into rural areas, providing rural service centres for visitors. VCD’s role is to
take a strategic overview and ensure connectivity between the plans.
Several relevant studies have been undertaken locally in Chester-le-Street over the last few years.
These include:
• Chester-le-Street District Regeneration Strategy 2006
• Tourism Strategy and Action Plan for Chester-le-Street District 2007
• Chester-le-Street Town Centre Master Plan 2008
The District Strategies usefully compiled data on the current situation and outlined priorities for the
next few years. However with the demise of the District Council and shift to unitary local authority
4
the context and potential delivery mechanisms have changed significantly. Both plans have been
revisited and key issues incorporated into the thinking behind this destination plan.
The Master Plan document aimed to inform the Local Development Framework and future planning
of the town centre. It identified a range of development opportunities and areas for environmental
improvement. The plan is by nature ambitious and many proposals are unlikely to be realised in the
near future, particularly given the economic recession. However it provides a vision of how key
areas of the town centre could be developed and improved and addresses important issues such as
the connecting links between the riverside and Front Street. Some of the proposals which are most
relevant for tourism have been incorporated into this plan for further discussion and possible action.
1.3
Process and partnership
Each town in County Durham followed the Market Town Welcome template or process which has
been developed to be as inclusive as possible, working with a local group in each town which
includes tourism businesses, local groups and organisations as well as the local authorities and Visit
County Durham. The template (see Annex 7.1 for the full model) works through the following stages,
which also help structure this destination plan:
1. Understanding the rationale - why welcome visitors, what are the benefits for a town?
2. Identifying current and future visitors to the town
3. Identifying what the town can offer visitors
4. Considering how well the town meets the needs of its visitors now and in the future
5. Understanding how tourism is resourced, promoted and managed in the town
6. Understanding the town’s strengths and weaknesses
7. Creating a vision of where the town wants to be in 5 – 10 years from a visitor perspective
8. Identifying priorities and actions in order to achieve that vision
Each town also undertook:
•
An audit of the tourism resources in and around the town
•
A survey of local visitor facing businesses
•
A review of other relevant research including visitor segmentation studies undertaken for
One North East and County Durham Tourism Partnership in 2007 and the 2008 County
Durham Visitor Survey, unfortunately there is no recent visitor survey for Chester-le-Street
itself.
•
A review of all local strategies and plans which the Destination Plan needs to link into and
complement (outlined under 1.2 above).
Three workshops were held in March, April and May 2010 attended by a wide range of local
businesses and partners involved in tourism. The attendees discussed the key elements of this plan,
the target markets, the vision for Chester-le-Street as a destination and identified and prioritised the
action points.
5
2.
2.1
Vision and Objectives
Vision Statement for Chester-le-Street
By 2020 Chester-le-Street will be renowned as a great north market town, home of international
cricket in the North East and proud of its Christian heritage.
With Beamish Museum, St Cuthbert’s Church, the Anker’s House and Lumley Castle visitors will be
drawn to discover Chester-le-Street’s fascinating history; from Roman times through to recent social
and mining heritage and its important place in the Northern Saints Trail. The more modern
attractions of the Durham Emirates Cricket Ground set beside the beautiful River Wear and the
scenic Riverside Park are great venues for relaxing and events. The town is an attractive and
convenient base for exploring the wider Durham and Newcastle areas.
The first sentence or a shorter version of it, could be used as a possible strapline: “Chester-le-Street
- a great north market town, home of the Durham Emirates Cricket Ground and proud of its Christian
heritage”.
There was some discussion as to whether Chester-le-Street is or will still be a market town in future.
It has had a market for centuries, has a large market square and three markets a week – but the
quality of these is felt to have fallen considerably and may continue to do so. Given that this is an
optimistic vision and an action is recommended to support improvements to the markets it is felt that
the term should be used and strengthened. However if the markets disappear in time this should be
revisited.
To fully achieve the vision Chester-le-Street will need to:
• address the markets issue,
• strengthen the presentation of its heritage offer
• grow the number of events held at the Cricket Ground and elsewhere in and around the town
There was also discussion about to whether the River Wear should be included in the main
strapline. The river is a major asset – it is made accessible at the attractive Riverside Park and via
riverside walks. The Emirates Ground was until recently known as the Riverside. Three of the town’s
main attractions – the cricket ground, Lumley Castle and the Park are all on the river. However the
river is still physically 5-10 minutes walk from the town centre and not visible from the main
shopping areas. Including the River Wear or Riverside in the one line version of the vision should be
an aspiration for the town to work towards. To achieve this Chester-le-Street will need to:
• improve the access routes and signage between the riverside and town centre
• preserve the attractiveness of the riverside and increase access to the riverbanks and water.
• use more imagery of the river and Riverside Park in town promotions and marketing.
6
2.2
Overall Objectives of the Destination Plan
The objectives of this destination plan are:
1.
To strengthen and promote Chester-le-Street’s identity as a visitor destination for heritage,
events and sports lovers and for those needing an attractive and convenient base from which
to explore Durham and Newcastle.
2.
To build on the reputation and future development of key attractions such as the International
Cricket Ground, Lumley Castle and Beamish Museum to encourage more visitors and better
links to the town centre.
3.
To develop a sustainable, year round visitor economy offering excellent service, quality food
and drink, enjoyable events and value for money; generating repeat visits.
4.
To better promote and enable visitors to enjoy Chester-le-Street’s heritage particularly its
unique Christian heritage and integrate this within the wider Durham and North East heritage
offer.
5.
To invest in town centre environmental and infrastructural improvements to improve linkages
between the Riverside and Front Street, clear visitor signposting, maps, coach parking and
support facilities such as toilets.
6.
To increase the volume and range of quality accommodation, retail and food and drink offers
in the town to meet future visitor demand, including the town markets.
7.
To attract more visitors by organising and hosting events, competitions and promoting local
heritage, sport and culture, working with venues such as the International Cricket Ground.
8.
To encourage more visitors to walk and cycle around the town and to explore the riverside,
local countryside and nature reserves.
9.
To encourage existing businesses to continue to invest in their properties and services and
to encourage new business investment in the town.
10. To encourage and support collaboration between local organisations and businesses to
enable joint delivery of the destination plan actions.
The objectives will be delivered through the action plan at the end of the plan and proposals for
monitoring progress are included in section 6.4.
7
3.
Visitors to Chester-le-Street
The visitor is central to the Market Town Welcome approach. It is important to consider the town
from the visitor’s perspective not that of a local person. Key questions to consider include:
• What types of people visit our town currently?
• Where from and for how long?
• Why? – what motivates them?
• What do they like and not like about our town?
• What will visitors be looking for in the future, are trends changing?
• Which visitors should we focus on attracting and catering for?
• How can we meet or exceed their expectations?
3.1
Survey Results
Recent visitor surveys can help answer these questions. The overall profile of visitors to County
Durham from the 2007 North East visitor segmentation survey is as follows:
•
Slightly higher proportion of holiday makers than people driven by events/ activities
•
Oldest holiday makers of the 4 sub-regions - 30% over 55
•
From NW and Yorkshire origins
•
Mainly couples
•
Staying 3 nights or less (shorter than average)
•
Hotels are most popular - plus an even split of guest house/ self catering/ camping/
caravanning which combined account for just under half of accommodation used
A new regional visitor survey is being undertaken in 2010 which will provide more useful data on
current visitor markets. There is no recent visitor survey for Chester-le-Street – a gap that could be
addressed as one of the actions in the plan. This would help scope out visitor demand for
accommodation, attractions, events etc.
The business survey undertaken for Market Town Welcome (2010) also produced some useful
results on current visitors. 30 businesses completed the survey. They said that business and day
visitors were the most important types of visitors for their businesses currently.
Visitor types to local businesses
Main/second holidays
Short Breaks
Overseas visitors
Business visitors
Coach groups
Day visitors
School visits
Special interest
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Importance 1= Low Importance 5 = Very Important
8
Businesses were asked what activities their visitors undertook and these included:
3.2
•
Business
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Watching cricket matches
Visiting Beamish, the Sage,
Weddings especially at Lumley Castle,
Using the town as a holiday base,
Passing through the town
Eating and drinking
Visiting students at University
visit friends and relatives
Sightseeing
Shopping
Current Visitor Profiles and Segmentation
Tourism bodies across the region and much of the UK are using the ArkLeisure visitor segmentation
model to help understand who current and potential visitors are and to assist in making decisions
about which types of visitor to focus upon. The model divides the UK population up into eight
segments based on people’s values and outlook on life.
The model can help predict people’s aspirations and how they spend their discretionary time and
money. Those people at the top of the model are more likely to be influenced by innovation, fashion
and change. Those on the left hand side are more influenced by media, friends and peer groups,
those on the right hand side are more independently minded and self-referenced.
Innovators
STYLE HOUNDS
‘Young Free Single’, impulsive
Fashion counts
Brand counts
Looking for fun with friends
Most not seriously sporty
Mass Market
COSMOPOLITANS
Strong, active, confident
Style & brand important, but as an expression of their self
made identity.
High spenders especially on innovation and technology
Looking for new challenges, new experiences,
• Globetrotters
•
HIGH STREET
Main stream early adopters
Followers of high street fashion
Care what others think
Happy to buy packaged options
•
•
FOLLOWERS
Strongly influenced by what others will think
Don’t want to be seen as old fashioned
Less active
Slow to adopt
Avoid risk
HABITUALS
Largely inactive, low spending group
Very traditional, strongly
resistant to change
Risk adverse
Value relaxation, peace and quiet
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
FUNCTIONALS
DISCOVERERS
Independent in mind and action
Little influenced by style or brand but interested
in new options
Buy on function and value to them
Looking for new and educational experiences
TRADITIONALS
Self reliant internally referenced
Slow to adopt new options
Strong orientation towards traditional values
Value individual attention & service
Self reliant
e
Price driven
Value function over style
Traditional values, but interested in
new experiences, not risk advers
Sustainers
9
Independent
Market
Detailed research in County Durham during 2007/8 revealed that the four segments which currently
visit the county are:
Functionals (40% of County Durham’s visitors currently)
• Lower spending & thrifty value for money seekers. Like heritage, nostalgia, culture,
gardening, rural holidays, enjoy attractions, self catering, traditional values.
Traditionals (12%)
• Mainstream, with traditional tastes. Enjoy attractions, scenery, heritage, culture, gardens,
peace, Dining and service is important. Older on average. Likely to return for repeat visits.
Discoverers (12%)
• Independent. Like exploring and investigating new things and places, history and culture,
educational or fun things to do, relaxation, good service, wide interests, not bothered about
fashion/style. Look for value for money but also drawn to luxury breaks
Cosmopolitans (16%)
• Individual, active, confident, adventurous. Like city breaks, events, outdoor activities,
heritage, culture, nature, new experiences, good food and service and challenges. High
spenders take lots of trips. Younger on average.
Chester-le-Street, as with most of the county, is currently attracting visitors in the Functional and
Traditional groups who will largely enjoy the town but may not see it as a town aiming to attract and
satisfy visitors. They may be frustrated by the relatively limited range of shopping and eating options
and the run down appearance of some shops. They may also be disappointed with the limited
information at arrival points such as the station and car parks. Many will find it a little difficult to
navigate around the town and be disappointed at the environmental quality of key routes between
the town and riverside. They may be frustrated at the limited range of quality accommodation at mid
range prices especially in the town centre. Those who stay at accommodation outside the town are
less likely to come into the town centre to explore and shop. Functionals are an important group as
many of them are current visitors however they are one of the lower spending groups.
While 16% of County Durham’s visitors are Cosmopolitans it is thought fewer of these will visit
Chester-le-Street – except perhaps for events at the Cricket Ground, Lumley Castle or Beamish.
The town offer is less likely to appeal to them and they are unlikely to return as they tend to seek out
new places all the time.
3.3
Visitor of the Future
The challenge for any destination is to keep Functionals coming but also find ways to encourage
them to spend more money or stay longer to generate more benefits for the local economy. So
having quality but good value food and drink options and perhaps offering special deals will appeal
to this group.
In terms of new tourism product development and marketing however it is likely to be more
beneficial to focus on Traditionals and potentially Discoverers in the longer term. Traditionals love
market towns, heritage and culture, they will spend if there’s good value for money and quality and
they are quite loyal – returning to favourite locations. There is scope for Chester-le-Street to boost
the number of visitors from this group. Discoverers can be more demanding, they like some
occasional luxury and love exploring new areas. They will respond to new and educational
experiences. With facilities such as Lumley Castle the Emirates Durham International Cricket
Ground there is potential for Chester-le-Street to attract more visitors from this segment.
10
This destination plan recommends a strategy of targeting Traditional and Discoverer visitors
over the next five-ten years – increasing the range of accommodation, promoting heritage
attractions and learning experiences, staging events to keep people returning, improving quality
across the board and using marketing messages that will appeal to these groups.
Visit County Durham advises that targeting Cosmopolitan visitors across the county should wait until
the visitor product is substantially improved. This applies to Chester-le-Street as well as other
market towns.
Business visitors will continue to be an important group for many businesses especially
accommodation. Business visitors need good information on facilities available such as free WiFi,
parking and flexible meal times. Chester-le-Street’s convenient location should continue to be and
asset for this group which could be further targeted working with tourism bodies.
Day visitors are also important and may fall into any of the segments. They will obviously usually
be from County Durham or neighbouring towns and cities. Chester-le-Street will continue to have
quite a strong appeal for two specific types – family groups (including grandparent/grandchildren
groups) and people with special interests in heritage, cricket, wildlife and walking. These
groups can also be added to Chester-le-Street’s target markets.
As Chester-le-Street is so close to Durham and has the heritage ties between the Cathedral and St
Cuthbert’s Church, plus the Cuddy’s Corse walking route which links the two, it should be in a good
position to attract visitors on holiday who are visiting Durham. It is worth noting that 23% of visitors
to the North East of England visit Durham City as it is one of the few destinations in the North East
which has widespread recognition.
11
4.
The Tourism Offer
4.1
What does our town offer visitors?
Chester-le-Street’s USPs
Chester-le-Street’s Unique Selling Points were identified. These are the strongest ‘propositions’ for
visitors – which they are most likely to have heard of, which may have motivated their visit or
generate their interest once they arrive. These are:
•
The Riverside – the International Cricket Ground and Riverside Park – the River Wear –
rowing, fishing etc; park and play area; county, national and international cricket games;
excellent sporting and event facilities.
•
Christian heritage – town heritage trail; St Mary’s & St Cuthbert’s Church; Roman site;
Anker’s House; translation of the gospels in 970AD; Cuddy’s Corse path; Lindisfarne
Gospels; Lumley Warriors; Finchale Priory; other churches/chapels, “the oldest town in
County Durham”.
•
Lumley Castle – prominent landmark; historic castle; luxury hotel and restaurant; beautiful
grounds; weddings and events; can visit for tea/meal/footpaths through grounds, golf course.
•
Beamish Museum – high profile family attraction; living museum of the North; over 300,000
visitors a year; heritage themes.
Visitor likes and dislikes
Again the lack of a visitor survey means there is limited information on visitors’ views of Chester-leStreet. If a survey is undertaken in future this would provide scores for the quality of local facilities;
everything from the range of things to do to the quality and price of the toilets and car parks. Without
such data we have built up a picture based on an audit of the visitor offer, supplemented by
anecdotal evidence from businesses and partners and direct observations.
The recent business survey identified a range of things businesses think visitors like and dislike
about Chester-le-Street. This was also supplemented by a small opportunistic survey of visitors to
the Riverside Park during the development of this plan. There are obviously some features such as
the shops and markets which generate mixed views. Similarly some features are valued as facilities
but the quality is lacking.
Visitors’ Likes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visitors’ Dislikes
Local Attractions - Beamish
Good location to access Durham,
Newcastle, Sunderland & Beamish
Cricket Grounds
Town area
Friendliness
Heritage
Ch-le-St Market
Riverside Park – well kept and good
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
12
Lack of accommodation in town
Lack of quality shops, little variety and
few clothing shops
Too many charity shops
Lots of empty shops
Not much of a market
Parking Fees
Untidy – litter on streets
Litter in hedgerows at Beamish and A1
•
•
•
•
•
facilities
Local Produce
Good variety of shops
Clean Market area
Pubs
Single parade of shops
•
•
North/airport access
Traffic circulation system
Lack of youth facilities
The Town Tourism Audit undertaken as part of Market Town Welcome identified many of the
same points. The audit acts as an objective and thorough assessment of the town’s current
strengths and weaknesses from a visitor perspective. It identifies gaps in the offer and relevant
issues. Further opportunities are then developed in the following SWOT analysis.
The full version of the audit is contained in Annex 7.3. Some of the main gaps and issues identified
include:
•
Although there are 5 hotels within 3 miles of the town centre, most are out of the town and at
least two are quite expensive. Three are quality inspected.
•
There are relatively few B&Bs and none of the pub or inn accommodation is quality
inspected.
•
There is felt to be a lack of medium price hotel accommodation such as a branded chain in
the town centre.
•
There is planning permission for a large hotel development at the International Cricket
Ground although no information about when that is likely to go ahead.
•
Only one self-catering unit is in the town. Another 23 are 2-3 miles away. There are 3 large
caravan sites within 5 miles.
•
In the town centre the main attraction is St Mary’s and Cuthbert’s Church and the attached
Anker’s House museum, supported by the Heritage Trail.
•
The Riverside Park is very popular and the new cricket ground is a top quality facility for
those attending matches, training or meetings.
•
There is a good range of well known attractions with 5-10 miles of Chester-le-Street
including Beamish Museum, Durham Cathedral, the Angel of the North, Washington Old Hall
and Newcastle and Gateshead’s attractions.
•
Chester-le-Street has a number of wildlife reserves close by managed by a range of different
organisations.
•
There is a range of events in the town during the year – the biggest are cricket matches and
occasional big events at the Riverside Ground.
•
Most other events are mainly targeting a local audience but there could be scope to bring in
more visitors each year and fill certain gaps in the calendar eg May, August and September.
There is potential for events themed on the local heritage, music and food.
•
There is quite a weak range of shops from a visitor perspective with few of the type visitors
would be particularly interested in such as antiques, books, arts, speciality food,
outdoor/leisure, farm shops, craft/pottery and clothing shops. Self-catering visitors will find
food shopping relatively easy and may be interested in the traditional butchers and green
grocers.
13
•
The market operates on Tuesdays, Friday and Saturdays but only the Friday markets are felt
to have a strong offer. The market is felt to need strengthening with more stalls and perhaps
scope for more farmers/speciality stalls.
•
There are currently 15 vacant shops and 8 or 9 charity shops. Very few shops open on
Sundays.
•
There is a range of restaurants, pubs and cafes which visitors would enjoy but few have a
specific reputation for their food.
•
A good range of outdoor activities and leisure facilities are available in or close to Chester-leStreet the main gap being the lack of a cinema or theatre, or perhaps other leisure facilities
for young people such as bowling or go-karting. There is also scope to research and
promote cycle routes.
•
There are as many as 20 car parks in Chester-le-Street but charges are felt to be high in
comparison to other towns and the short stay provision may encourage visitors to move on.
Signage to car parks is patchy and few have visitor information for people as they arrive.
•
The railway station has limited visitor information for arriving visitors currently.
•
There are public toilets at Foundry Lane Car Park and the Riverside but only a disabled toilet
in the market place.
•
There is no Tourist Information Centre in the town. The library has racking for both visitor
and resident information leaflets but there is no signage indicating visitor information.
•
There are 2 new welcome to Chester-le-Street boards in town – one on Front Street and the
other at the station but they are currently awaiting information. At the Riverside there are
several other information boards with maps and good information but some are quite old and
need refreshing and updating.
•
The Heritage Trail has a series of panels around the town with interpretation of the history
and townscape. These are in good condition and are connected by markers in the
pavements. There are also some plaques on interesting buildings.
•
There are basic town welcome signs and brown and white signing for the Riverside and
Beamish
•
Pedestrian fingerposts are quite good but there are gaps in the signage in places.
The audit was used to develop the SWOT in the next section, supplemented with previous issues
identified from other studies and strategies and from direct observation.
14
4.2
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Proximity to main travel routes – rail, road,
regional/county accessibility – transport hub
Proximity to Durham City and Beamish – major
attractions
River and riverside park
Roman, Saxon and Christian heritage
Anker’s House, Church, Lindisfarne Gospels,
Lumley Warriors
Heritage Trail
Cricket ground venue with international status – for
cricket and events and wider sports facilities
CLS cricket ground
Lumley Castle Hotel
Recognised regionally as ‘a nice place’
Variety of retail offer – especially food
Range of places to eat, inc. coffee shops
Traditional high street feel and large open space in
town centre with art features
Saturday market
Strong night time economy
Regatta, but not publicised
Access to countryside – walks and nature trails –
rural gateway
Abundance of taxis
Live activities and festivals in town centre
Planning permission for hotel at Riverside
Lots of car parking
Active Heritage Group
Quality of shopping/eateries
Length of Front Street – not very accessible within
town centre
No direct London trains
Connectivity to riverside for pedestrians poor
Insufficient places to stay – no budget hotel
Bed spaces often at capacity
Lack of coach parking
Insufficient events for families
Tuesday and Friday markets weak
Vacant shops
Route into town from stations not very attractive
Lack of public toilets (at market square)
Car park charges
Traffic controlled street
No tourist info centre (but scope to use library
more?)
No information in welcome info boards
Park not attractive for adults
Lack of evening entertainment eg no cinema
Few brown signs on access routes
Overshadowed by Durham and Newcastle Riverside – perceived as being in Durham – and
can overshadow CLS
Lack of enthusiasm from traders/apathy/capacity
limited anti social behaviour
Opportunities
Threats
New welcome to CLS info boards at station, key
car parks and town centre
Simple map based leaflet to promote the town in
the local area (eg from Durham and Newcastle)
and guide people round, once here
Simple visitor website for CLS, with links to
accommodation and attraction sites.
New hotel development
Resolve coach parking and target coach
companies
Review signing and routes from town to riverside
park – environmental improvements, better
crossings, new signage.
Pilot a shuttle bus route from high street to riverside
Review car parking provisions, charging and
signing/map for visitors
More events in town centre linked to town’s
heritage/themes – events which link riverside and
town centre?
Better information and maps of walks from the town
into surrounding countryside – eg downloadable
Work with key visitor businesses (Riverside,
Lumley, Beamish) to ensure good links to
accommodation and info about town eg heritage
trail and new leaflet
Encourage businesses to promote CLS location
Promote special offers/deals for cricket match days
Celebrity endorsement from famous sports people?
New attractions developed nearby
Genealogy research
Deteriorating shop/pub frontages
Increasing numbers of empty shops
Market declines further
Economic recession
Reduction in public sector funding
Other market towns raising their game
Apathy
Continuing anti-social behaviour in the evenings –
or the perception of problems putting people off
Lack of capacity to organise/sustain events
15
4.3
Meeting future visitor expectations
Linking back to the visitor segments identified in section 3 it is important to consider how the current
town offer matches up to their expectations and how it will match up in five or ten years time as
trends change and expectations continue to increase.
We anticipate that Functionals, Traditionals and Discovers will be looking for more in future. This
may include:
4.4
•
More and better quality accommodation in the town centre
•
Better maps and signage
•
Deals and special offers
•
More facilities and information for families
•
Improved approach into town from rail station
•
More quality eating places and café culture
•
Well maintained urban environment and historic buildings
•
Vibrant and busy including the markets
•
More independent food and drink and locally sourced produce
New developments currently planned
The Master Plan contains a range of ideas and opportunities for development. However, probably
due to the economic recession, few are known to be being pursued currently. Planning permission
has been granted for an infill development beside the market square which would remove one
obvious town centre eyesore. Planning permission has also been granted for the development of a
100-150 bed hotel at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground. Beamish Museum
continues to have a programme of improvements and developments. Any new projects will help
boost overall confidence and should help strengthen the case for further investment.
16
5.
5.1
Destination Management and Promotion
The Strategy
Section 2 outlined the plan’s vision and objectives; section 3 identified which visitor markets
Chester-le-Street should focus on - Traditionals and Discoverers, plus day visitors, family groups
and visitors with a special interest in heritage, cricket, wildlife and gentle walking; and section 4 has
identified the town’s strengths and weaknesses and opportunities to address these to better meet
visitor expectations. Here we pull these elements together to identify what sort of destination
Chester-le-Street will be in ten years time, what experiences it will offer visitors and what the
priorities should therefore be for management and promotion of the town and surrounding area as a
destination.
Chester-le-Street has some good visitor attractions and facilities. However these need to be better
joined up both with good information and physical links, and then promoted more strongly. Plus
improvements to the environment of the town centre would help the town support a stronger visitor
economy. This would then support a significant increase in visitor accommodation provision.
In order to deliver the plan’s objectives Chester-le-Street needs to invest providing better information
in both print and web based formats, particularly good quality maps of the town centre and riverside
– showing people the two or three key routes between the town and the river. These routes deserve
some investment in upgrading the physical environment – removing any eyesores, good signage
and planting. Encouraging more people to move between town and riverside will extend their stays
and encourage more spending and return visits.
To support this central theme other areas of the town’s tourism product need improving or extending
such as the accommodation stock, car parking and the retail offer. In order to make Chester-leStreet work better as a destination, visitors need to find parking easily, then find their way around
with a good map and signage, feeling safe and enjoying an attractive streetscape with well
maintained frontages. Chester-le-Street has particular opportunities to link in with some of the
region’s highest profile destinations – Beamish, Durham City and Christian sites - and attract more
visitors through collaboration with these. One of the main challenges will be to sell the town to its
own business and resident community – many of whom do not currently rate it as a visitor
destination. By encouraging local buy-in, ownership and pride, the whole town may be able to gear
up better as a destination and businesses may identify a range of opportunities themselves.
5.2
The future visitor experience
The overall vision for Chester-le-Street as a visitor destination is given in section 2.1. The bullet
points below expand that vision and give a more detailed description of what visitors will experience
when they come to Chester-le-Street in future:
By 2020 Chester-le-Street will be renowned as a great north market town, home of international
cricket in the North East and proud of its Christian heritage.
With Beamish Museum, St Cuthbert’s Church, the Anker’s House and Lumley Castle visitors will be
drawn to discover Chester-le-Street’s fascinating history; from Roman times through to recent social
and mining heritage and its important place in the Northern Saints Trail. The more modern
attractions of the Durham Emirates Cricket Ground set beside the beautiful River Wear and the
scenic Riverside Park are great venues for relaxing and events. The town is an attractive and
convenient base for exploring the wider Durham and Newcastle areas.
17
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visitors will choose CLS for its vibrant and welcoming atmosphere, range of quality
accommodation and convenient location for touring Durham and Newcastle.
They will be attracted by cricket matches, heritage events in town and at Beamish, family
celebrations, sports training and business meetings but will decide to stay longer to visit the
town and nearby attractions.
Visitors will be able to explore the town’s Christian and Roman heritage, the Lindisfarne
Gospels, Anker’s House and Lumley Warriors, through the downloadable heritage trail, local
heritage centre, fascinating interpretation of key buildings and celebratory events.
They will wander along pleasant routes to the riverside park to enjoy the playground, train rides
and rowing boats on the river and walk along the riverside, possibly as far as Finchale Priory or
even all the way to Durham.
The shuttle bus will return visitors to town for a meal at a friendly café or pub which offers a
range of meals featuring local produce and specialities.
They will be able to browse the market stalls and local shops for interesting items and presents
to take home.
Visitors will find it easy to explore the town using map based leaflets they picked up at the
library, station or heritage centre or downloaded from thisisdurham or the easy to use Visit
Chester-le-Street website, along with details of upcoming events.
People will choose to make a short detour to Chester-le-Street whether they are on a coach trip
or travelling to or from Scotland by train or car as they will know it is a great place to stop on the
Great North Road. Many will break their journey for a night or two to stay in a cosy B&B, quality
hotel or historic Lumley Castle and use Chester-le-Street as a hub from which to visit Durham,
Beamish, Newcastle, the Angel of the North, Washington Old Hall, Bede’s World and the many
nearby nature reserves.
More and more visitors will explore on foot or by bicycle as attractive routes are mapped and
available on smart phones to lead people through the attractive local countryside.
5.3
Destination priorities
The priority themes which have emerged for Chester-le-Street are:
1. Marketing, promotion and information provision
2. Town environment
3. Heritage
4. Walking, cycling and countryside
5. Business development
6. Events
A number of actions have been identified under these headings which are detailed in the next
section.
Note:
These themes are not specifically in priority order but marketing and information is given first as
there are several priority actions which can be tackled immediately. However it is vital that the
tourism product in Chester-le-Street is developed further at the same time and that some of the
additional promotion (for example to coach companies) is delayed until the product is improved (eg
when the coach parking has been installed). So while some of the initial actions are about joining
things up and providing better information, there should then be a concerted phase of product
development eg on accommodation, events, walks, business quality improvements before a further
phase of promotion and marketing of the new improved Chester-le-Street destination is launched.
18
6.
6.1
Action Plan
Introduction
This section builds on previous sections by putting the strategy into practice and developing an
action plan to achieve the vision and objectives. It lists all the ideas and proposals suggested during
the process or identified by the consultant, under the priority headings. The table summarises a
wide range of potential actions and begins to identify which are most important and which can be
delivered sooner or need to be worked on for longer. The columns begin to identify who needs to be
involved and which bodies may be able to deliver or find funding if required. With all the actions the
crucial factor is what organisation is willing to take the lead and drive things forward. There are also
actions which the private sector can lead on either collectively or within their own business, plus
some investment opportunities are identified.
This plan will become a working document to guide the implementation and delivery of the
destination plan. It will need to be added to and amended as more information and detail becomes
available. It will need to be reviewed at least annually to tick off actions completed and review the
progress towards others. New actions and ideas can be added as they arise.
The tabular plan is followed by more detailed descriptions of the top priority actions.
Key to Action Plan
Priority/
importance
Very High
High
Medium
Low
Timescale
Quick Win - 6-12 months
Short Term - 1-2 years
Medium Term - 2-5 years
Long Term - over 5 years
Abbreviations
AAP – Area Action Partnership
CLS – Chester-le-Street
DCC – Durham County Council
DCCC- Durham County Cricket Club
ONE – One North East
VCD – Visit County Durham
19
6.2
Chester-le-Street Destination Plan – Action Plan
Actions shaded in blue are key projects and are described in more detail in section 6.3 below.
1
Marketing, promotion and information provision
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
1.1
New visitors map based leaflet about CLS focusing on agreed USPs, to be racked alongside
other market town leaflets and held in local hotels, caravan sites, at Riverside, all Durham
TICs, Beamish and in Newcastle/Gateshead/Washington TICs and key attractions.
VH
QW-S
VCD subject to
funding
1.2
Joined up promotion – improve links to other areas and work with neighbouring authorities to VH
combine the tourism offer.
Contact key websites to improve info on CLS and CLS businesses eg tripadviser, This is
Durham, Visit NE England. Work with Visit County Durham and ONE to improve profile of CLS
in brochures and leaflets.
Ensure key attractions eg Lumley Castle, Riverside and Beamish promote their CLS location,
the town and its USPs by displaying leaflets, mounting town maps on the wall, website links,
staff familiarisation and explore scope to link the town into their events.
Link more to other Christian sites – Durham, Bede’s World, Jarrow, Lindisfarne, Finchale Priory
– reciprocal leaflets on display and web links.
Make more of two nearby National Trust sites Penshaw Monument and Moorhouse Woods –
ask NT to raise their profile on website and in handbook.
QW-S
DCC, VCD,
Durham attractions
group, Heritage
Group and church,
new tourism group
1.3
Visitor webpages for CLS – on key attractions/USPs, links to accommodation and attraction
websites; events listing; downloadable street map, heritage trail, walks and cycle routes; good
transport info and reciprocal weblinks.
VH
QW-S
VCD, AAP, new
tourism group
1.4
Visitor map boards - more boards in key locations eg market square, library and main car
parks and update some older ones eg at Riverside (In addition to new ones planned at station
and Front Street)
VH
QW-S
VCD
1.5
Visitor information in town - Better source of info leaflets and advice eg at library – may
require additional maps, racking, staff training and better sign or map board on exterior wall
H
S
VCD, DCC
1.6
Promote the town to coach companies for stop offs. Once parking and toilet provision
agreed - working through coach company contacts and group travel organisations. (possibly
scope to work with particular pub(s) re drop off, food and toilet provision – eg Red Lion)
H
M
DCC transport
David Holding
1.7
Promote train, bus and coach options for travel to CLS and good accessibility info on all info
sources, ie leaflets, web pages.
H
S
DCC transport
20
1.8
Visitor survey – undertake a thorough survey of visitors to CLS to monitor likes, dislikes,
characteristics etc and scope out demand for key facilities – ideally every 3 years.
M
M
VCD, DCC, ONE,
DCCC
2.
Town environment
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
2.1
Review car parking strategy – incorporating visitor perspective, lengths of stay, levels of
charge. Introduce an all day rate and a ticket which can be used in all car parks - in town and
riverside.
Improve signing for car parks on the basis of the review – with more signing for those
prioritised for visitors.
Locate a town map highlighting key pedestrian routes and other car parks in these main car
parks.
VH
QW-S
DCC, AAP
2.2
Resolve and promote coach parking - establish and sign several coach parking spaces in
good central location
VH
QW-S
DCC
2.3
Identify and improve key visitor routes from Front Street to the riverside and sign and
improve the appearance of these – linked to car park review (2.1). May require better or
upgraded crossing points. Include in map (1.1 And 1.4) (signing to Riverside underway along
Ropery Walk so look at two other routes – one from centre and one from market place – using
underpass) Widen underpass and install better lighting
VH
QW-S
DCC
2.4
New toilets in market place (or expand existing disabled toilet or an arrangement with a local
business?)
H
S/M
DCC
2.5
Environmental improvements and clean up untidy areas around the town and riverside park
– enforcement against particular eyesores?
H
QW-M
DCC, Traders
Association
2.6
Floral displays, or decorations/banners, to improve attractiveness of town – build on the ‘in
bloom’ competition and recruit more businesses and wider community, e.g. install hanging
flower baskets/basket trees along key routes to riverside
H
QW-S
AAP, Traders
Assoc, DCC
2.7
Tackle anti-social behaviour, graffiti etc – through pub watch type scheme, liaison between
business groups and police, youth centres, organisations etc. plus film nights project etc
H
S and
ongoing
Police, Traders,
Licensed
Victuallers, AAP
2.8
Better signs at station northbound platform to town centre. New promotional signage along
platforms eg “CLS for the Riverside Cricket Ground, St Cuthbert’s Church and Lumley Castle”
H
S
Station, AAP, VCD
21
Wider and better quality pavements along Front Street to improve accessibility and
pedestrian friendly feel
H
M
DCC
2.10 Support development projects from Master Plan e.g. infill development on market place,
station approaches environmental improvements, Chester Burn green corridor, shop front
improvement scheme.
H
M-L
DCC,
2.11 Design and install new town welcome signs at gateways to the town – with strapline/USPs
M
M
DCC
2.12 Improve war memorial (Of great concern to residents but not high priority for tourism
development)
L
M
2.13 Pilot a shuttle bus route from Front Street to Riverside and riverside park
L
M-L
DCC
3.
Heritage
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
3.1
Make more of the town’s Christian Heritage – Promote the Church, Anker’s House, highlight
the Lindisfarne Gospels, Lumley Warriors, other churches, Cuddy’s Corse etc. Plus link to
earlier Roman heritage e.g. Great North Road and later town heritage eg mining and industry.
VH
M
Church, DCC,
heritage group, new
tourism group
3.2
Establish a town heritage hub/centre – space in a centrally located building for displays
about the town’s history and heritage. Potentially could also act as a TIC. Needs to incorporate
storage for Heritage Group resources.
VH
M
Heritage Group,
Library/parish
centre, DCC,
external funding
3.3
Improve links to other NE Christian heritage sites – reciprocal web links, leaflets, cross
promotion, training for volunteers, inclusion in county/regional marketing campaigns (see also
1.2).
H
S
Church, Heritage
Group, VCD
3.4
Review and update heritage trail – in time for when reprint required, plus load it onto website
so can be printed out by visitors in advance
H
S-M
Heritage Group
3.5
Genealogy research – link new CLS webpages (1.3) to Heritage Group website and have
source of info/helpful contacts for people researching their family history.
M
M
Heritage Group
3.6
Heritage Open Days - Identify buildings which might be opened on Heritage Open Days eg all
the town’s historic churches, Harbour House or special events at Civic Centre or St Cuthbert’s
– work with Durham Group, English Heritage, churches.
M
M
Heritage Group,
DCC
4.
Walking, cycling and countryside
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
4.1
Compile ‘Walks and Nature around CLS’ booklet with suggested walks and info on all the
disparate nature reserves: Waldridge Fell Country Park and SSSI, Moorhouse Woods (NT),
H
QW-S
DCC, VCD, DWT,
local
2.9
22
Cong Burn Wood (local nature reserve), Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve (DWT),
Washington Wetland centre (WWT), Brasside Pond, Frankland (DWT), Durham Necklace
Park? Start with simple listing of sites on webpage with links. Move on to research and
promote walks and compile booklet. Also work with wider campaigns eg ‘It’s in our nature’.
group/volunteer,
Ramblers, Heritage
Group
4.2
Research and promote cycle routes - a range of different length (circular) routes from the
town (Eg through the CPAL get active cycling programme targeting CLS area) – leaflet and/or
pdfs on website
H
S/M
DCC and Sustrans
4.3
Open up riverside walk from CLS to Durham – promote Cuddy’s Corse route initially but aim H
for riverside path along whole length. Scope for any other riverside walks?
M/L
Northumbrian
Assoc, DCC,
Ramblers, Durham
City Vision
4.4
Develop more cycle friendly environment over time and encourage more visitors to cycle
around the town and local countryside eg bike racks, bike hire from accommodation, cycle
lanes.
M
L
DCC
5.
Business development
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
5.1
Additional visitor accommodation – Support the development of a new quality mid price
hotel at the International Cricket Ground. Compile more data on demand and occupancy.
VH
M
DCC, partners,
business
investment opp,
cricket ground,
VCD
5.2
Upgrade pub accommodation - work with existing smaller pubs/inns to upgrade existing
rooms, establish websites and promote their general visitor offer. Business support through
Business Engagement Team
H
S
Traders Assoc,
VCD
5.3
Promote special offers and deals for cricket match/major event days -liaise with Riverside
to support wider promotions – pilot and develop in preparation for test match in 2013
H
S/ongoing
Businesses, cricket
ground
5.4
Additional support for retail, catering and visitor facing businesses eg website
development and upgrading, e-marketing, internet booking and sales systems, graphic
design/signage, green tourism, access improvements, customer service, Desti.ne system
H
S-M
Traders Assoc
5.5
Encourage and facilitate business collaboration, such as business to business
recommendations and joint working through networking events, familiarisation visits, hosting
open days, discount tickets, weblinks, leaflet swaps etc. Perhaps establish an annual Chesterle-Street tourism forum or event/visit to see new facilities etc.
H
S and
ongoing
Traders Assoc,
VCD
23
5.6
Attract new good quality retail eg clothing, interiors, gifts,
H
M-L
DCC,
5.7
Encourage new quality B&B accommodation in town centre or farms nearby.
M
S
Traders, VCD
5.8
Re-establish rowing boats on the river – business opportunity?
M
M
DCC
5.9
Reopen miniature railway in riverside park as family attraction and /or improve the café
area, introduce soft play area and have more shelter for poor weather.
M
M
DCC
5.10 Make more of local produce and food specialities in local cafes, pubs and restaurants –
improve menus and signage eg through Taste Durham
M
L
Businesses,
5.11 Support new attraction/activity developments eg Adventure Valley or Lambton Park.
Include major opportunities in Area Tourism Management Plan (ATMaP).
M
M
VCD via ATMaP
6.
Events
Priority
Timescale
How and who?
6.1
Compile events listing for visitors and keep it updated on webpages (1.3).
H
QW and
ongoing
DCC, AAP, new
tourism group
6.2
Promote existing events more eg regatta, St Cuthbert’s Walk, Beamish and Riverside events
and organise more PR and media coverage. Establish events network to improve
communications and joint working.
H
S
AAP and business
community, various
6.3
Support and promote the markets - consolidate market on one or two days?, add in extra
themed markets eg French market or more specialist markets, encourage more farmers
market stalls – discuss with market traders group, town council etc.
H
S-M
AAP and outside
partners and
businesses
6.4
More events in town centre and market place linked to town’s heritage (also possibly food
or music events) – events which link riverside and town centre – eg processions or multi site
events? Ideas could include: Heritage - Lumley Warriors in action, re-enactment of town
football game, Lambton Worm (re-enactment or worm costume competition or festival);
Walking Festival – working with local Ramblers groups; Horticultural/flower festival – working
with local allotment associations; Shopping festival – eg pre Christmas with competitions and
promotions. Need to research best themes, support and feasibility.
H
S-M
DCC and partners,
TCM
6.5
Boost events business - Link with Durham Events Forum, work with other market towns,
scope to develop the conference, business, weddings, celebrations market
H
S-M
DCC, Businesses
6.6
Develop music events - Music festival in pubs, local young bands playing in the square
and/or big music festival at riverside park/ground
H
S-M
Businesses, AAP,
voluntary groups,
24
6.3
Key projects
The projects highlighted in blue above are those which will make most difference and which are top
priority for this destination plan. They include (in the order they appear in the plan above):
1. New visitor map based leaflet
2. Joined up promotion
3. Visitor webpages for Chester-le-Street
4. Visitor map boards
5. Review car parking strategy
6. Resolve and promote coach parking
7. Identify and improve key visitor routes
8. Make more of the town’s Christian Heritage
9. Establish a town heritage hub/centre
10. Additional visitor accommodation
Each is described in more detail below.
1.
New visitor map based leaflet
Project no.
Priority action
1.1
Design and print (and pdf) an attractive and easy to use visitors map based
leaflet about Chester-le-Street, which focuses on the agreed USPs.
£5,000
VCD
Cost
Lead Delivery
Organisation
Other Partners
Key Issues
Timetable
Next steps
AAP, businesses
There is currently no good map or map based leaflet for Chester-le-Street.
The heritage trail is attractive but doesn’t cover all aspects of the town.
There is scope for producing a simple map based leaflet for Chester-leStreet with an attractive, up to date map which showcases the main
attractions and clearly indicates the walking routes around the town –
particularly to the riverside. Suggested print run 50,000 – ideally top cover
2 years.
This should also be made available to download from the website as a pdf
in advance of a visit (which will help reduce reprint costs and help make up
for the lack of a TIC).
The leaflet should be held in all local hotels, caravan sites, at the Riverside
and Beamish. It should be racked alongside other market town leaflets at
all Durham TICs and in Newcastle/Gateshead/Washington TICs and key
regional attractions.
The map artwork can also be used for visitor map boards.
Possible scope for sponsorship in return for a promotional feature – eg
sponsoring a mini survey tear off panel with prize at featured business.
Summer 2010
Agree funding. Agree brief for content and design. Commission designer
(and new photos?).
25
2.
Joined up promotion
Project no.
1.2
Priority action
Improving joined up promotion with key attractions and good links to other
areas/organisations such as working with neighbouring authorities to
combine the tourism offer
Cost
Officer/volunteer time. (Several days initially followed by ongoing periodic
liaison)
Lead Delivery
Organisation
AAP
Other Partners
VCD, Heritage Group, TradersAssoc/Businesses
Key Issues
Searching for Chester-le-Street online generates little useful information.
Chester-le-Track’s site provides almost the only useful information. CLS
doesn’t feature much on regional NE websites. Large businesses such as
Lumley Castle are listed under ‘Durham’ on many tourism advice websites
(such as Tripadviser) confusing the potential visitor and not allowing them
to view all accommodation and attraction options. Thisisdurham has scope
to increase details on CLS. An investment of time and energy into
contacting sites, pointing out mistakes or omissions, lobbying for a high
profile for CLS would reap considerable benefits for little outlay. Nearly
three quarters of visitors search for information online while planning their
visits and CLS will be missing out on many potential visitors through a poor
internet presence.
Actions include:
Contact key websites to improve info on CLS and CLS businesses eg
tripadviser, This is Durham, Visit NE England. Work with Visit County
Durham and ONE to improve profile of CLS in brochures and leaflets and
the number of CLS businesses paying to be featured.
Engage key attractions eg Lumley Castle, Riverside and Beamish
ensuring they promote their CLS location, the town and its USPs by
displaying leaflets, mounting town maps on the wall, website links, staff
familiarisation and explore scope to link the town into their events.
Developing mutually beneficial relationships with these key businesses is
crucial. They have wide customer bases but it is likely many of these
visitors do not visit CLS town. The target is to increase the proportion of
people from each of these businesses visiting the town centre (and
enjoying that visit).
Link more to other Christian sites – Durham, Bede’s World, Jarrow,
Lindisfarne, Finchale Priory – reciprocal leaflets on display and web links.
(Is there a leaflet or webpage which promotes the whole of the North East’s
Christian Heritage offer and if not is there scope for one?)
Make more of two nearby National Trust sites Penshaw Monument and
Moorhouse Woods – ask NT to raise their profile on website and in
handbook While these are small sites for the Trust there are no details
online for members who search for details. By including even basic
information about location and facilities a few of the Trust’s 3.8 million
members might be prompted to visit these sites near CLS and then are
more likely to visit the town.
Review other opportunities for raising the profile of CLS or CLS
businesses on county and regional websites, listings.
Timetable
Summer 2010 and ongoing monitoring/tweaking afterwards
26
Next steps
Agree who can lead on which actions. Set a target date to report back on
responses.
3.
Visitor webpages for Chester-le-Street
Project no.
1.3
Priority action
Ensure CLS features on good quality webpages which have sufficient
information for visitors to plan their trips in advance and when visiting.
Relatively small (possibly new hosting/address) but officer/volunteer time
required to establish and maintain. (Approx one week to establish, then half
a day a month to update)
AAP?
Cost
Lead Delivery
Organisation
Other Partners
VCD, Chester-le-Track, Heritage Group?
Key Issues
The lack of web based information on CLS is described in 1.2 above. There
is a need to have some simple information on the town and its offer widely
available in a quality format. This will become increasingly important not
only as most people will access web information in advance but more will
do so during their visits with smart phones in future. Web based info is an
opportunity to attract and retain visitors by offering them info on things to do
and useful links/special offers.
The most obvious opportunity is to fully utilise the opportunity to have
information on the town on the VCD thisisdurham website
www.thisisdurham.com - (http://www.thisisdurham.com/site/destinationguide-discover-durham/search-results/chester-le-street-p413651). This
allows a 250 word description and 4 photographs – which should be
chosen to promote the town’s USPs. Thisisdurham has 25,000 hits a month
and holds the essential information on accommodation, attractions and
eating out in and around the town.
However this site does not give the wider flexibility to have additional
content currently. This plan proposes some simple visitor webpages be
developed for the town which do not duplicate accommodation listings but
provide additional information for visitors to browse or download. This could
include:
• Visitor map of town
• Full map based leaflet (pdf of project 1)
• Links (reciprocal) to the key attraction websites
• Information on travel to the town by public transport (or links to the
relevant pages of Chester-le-Track which covers this well).
• Heritage Trail download (could include audio version in future or
podcasts)
• Links to key local facilities eg Church webpages on visiting the church
and Anker’s House.
• Links to the Heritage Group website and their pages on the town’s
heritage.
• Page on local countryside sites (inc links to their sites) and walks (could
include download of new leaflet) and cycle rides (inc download of new
routes).
• Link to Cuddy’s Corse on Northumbrian Assoc site.
• Listing of local events visitors would be interested in.
• A where to eat listing
• A news section updated periodically to feature upcoming events,
special deals, new developments etc. (Only if someone can maintain
27
Timetable
this regularly.)
Such a mini website would also solve the problem of those visitors who
currently search specifically for Chester-le-Street finding no useful
information.
The Chester-le-Track website has some visitor information currently – but
this is not obvious as it is at the foot of the main page. One option would be
to develop additional pages on this site. (Although the current design is
good for transport information it might need a new design for visitor pages featuring more photographs, less text and fewer moving information.)
Alternatively it could be developed as an off-shoot of the AAP site or
Heritage Group site. It should not become intermingled with the wider
content of any of these sites which will be of less interest to visitors. It may
be that a volunteer with good web skills could be recruited to design the
pages and supplied with quality photos. Hosting costs will need to be
covered on an ongoing basis.
A web address such as www.visitchester-le-street or similar should be
secured and pointed to the pages wherever they are hosted.
The key themes and messages from this destination plan could be used to
prioritise the messages and items featured. The key will be to keep the
design and content short, simple and attractive – presenting a quality
impression without too much text. Little information should be included
which will require regular updating. Linking to the VCD site for
accommodation will keep that information up to date and prevents
problems over non inspected accommodation. VCD has a protocol of
points any site has to meet in order for a reciprocal link to be agreed which
includes quality factors, logos and complementarity.
In future more features and special offers etc could be developed if there is
a mechanism to maintain and fund the site and it proves successful.
Immediate action on This is Durham site. Summer/autumn 2010 for new
webpages.
Next steps
Update and expand info on thisisdurham site. Discuss options for setting up
further webpages – costs and maintenance. Agree way forward and
elements to be included. Establish for 2011.
4.
Visitor map boards
Project no.
1.4
Priority action
Install more boards in key locations and update older versions
Cost
Approx £1-2,000 each depending on materials and design
Lead Delivery
Organisation
DCC/AAP
Other Partners
Traders Assoc
Key Issues
New units have been installed at Front Street and the station – these
require filling with a good quality map - this may already be in hand but
details are not clear. Other new sites for units (perhaps of the same design
so they are easily recognised) should include the market square and
outside (or in the entrance to) the library. Also in the two or three main car
parks prioritised for visitors by the car park review.
Some existing information boards such as some of those at the riverside
park and car parks should be updated as they include out of date
information.
28
Ideally the boards should use the same map as in the new leaflet – so
visitors become familiar with it and find it easy to use. It should certainly
have the same orientation – ideally with north at the top.
Timetable
To follow on from map based leaflet and car park review. In place by Spring
2011.
Next steps
Check details of maps already planned for two new units. Agree ideal sites
and liaise with relevant DCC/town council personnel eg re library and car
parks. Review existing old panels summer 2010 and agree action.
5.
Review car parking strategy
Project no.
2.1
Priority action
Review of car parking strategy incorporating a visitor perspective with
action to enforce the improvements identified.
Cost
Review – largely officer time. (Approx one week of officer time depending
on extent of consultation)
Signage, charging and map improvements £10-20,000.
Lead Delivery
Organisation
Durham County Council
Other Partners
AAP, key attractions,
Key Issues
The review should incorporate questions such as which car parks are
visitors most likely to use, where are their main entry points to the town and
could they be encouraged to use Middle and Lower Chare (reasonable
space and minimising walks to town and riverside).
Based on the review’s findings a system of lengths of stay and levels of
charge should be developed which will encourage visitors to stay longer
and explore more of the town eg by introducing an all day rate and a ticket
which can be used in all car parks - in town and riverside.
Improve signing for car parks on the basis of the review – with more signing
for those prioritised for visitors.
Locate a town map highlighting key pedestrian routes and other car parks
in these main car parks.
Improve pedestrian signing from key car parks to main visitor sites.
Timetable
Review 2010. Action 2011
Next steps
Agree scope and timetable for review – linking in with existing policy and
discussions on car parking.
6.
Resolve and promote coach parking
Project no.
2.2
Priority action
Establish and sign several coach parking spaces in good central location
Cost
£2-3,000?? For line marking, minor roadworks and signage.
Lead Delivery
Organisation
DCC
Other Partners
29
Key Issues
This will need some consultation with transport authorities, town council,
local landowners and possibly coach companies. However there appear to
be two main options for sites:
1. To the west of the market square – as proposed in the Master Plan
2. In Cone Terrace at the eastern end of the market square.
There might also be scope for coaches to park outside specific businesses
such as the Red Lion or other pubs if they have arranged to cater for the
coach. However such arrangements may not need specific designation.
It would also be worth considering whether a coach drop off outside St
Cuthbert’s church/Anker’s Museum is possible – if it is being promoted as a
key attraction visitors would be interested in visiting the church and Anker’s
Museum before exploring the rest of the town and shops. Perhaps toilets at
the Parish Centre could be made available in this case. Groups would need
to be split into smaller numbers to enable them to take turns viewing the
Anker’s House.
Each option should be examined to check how many coaches can be
accommodated, what existing uses are affected, how convenient each is
for passengers to reach key services, how attractive each is (from the
perspective of passengers disembarking and from pedestrians seeing
parked coaches), plus safety factors both for the passengers and coach
manoevring.
The Cone Terrace site might mitigate against environmental improvements
proposed for the route from the market square towards the riverside park –
several parked coaches. However this site is closer to Front Street and St
Cuthbert’s and the Anker’s House.
This action does not need to await action on additional public toilets as both
sites are within a short distance of the market square – the site identified
where new toilets would be located. They are both some distance from the
existing toilets. It might be possible to set up an arrangement with Tescos
or another business for passengers to use their toilets if no speedy
progress is made on the issue.
Timetable
2010 – ready for 2011
Next steps
Agree consultation scope and timescale. Set target date for decision and
then organise design/costings. Implement winter 2010/11.
Hold off promoting strongly until parking in place.
7.
Identify and improve key visitor routes
Project no.
2.3
Priority action
Identify and improve key visitor routes from Front Street to the riverside and
sign and improve the appearance of these – linked to the car park review
(2.1) and decisions on coach drop offs and parking.
Cost
Officer/volunteer time (approx one week) for surveys. Minor-major costs for
the environmental improvements – will need costing individually.
Lead Delivery
Organisation
DCC/AAP
Other Partners
Key Issues
The disconnect between the town centre and the riverside park/Riverside
30
Ground was one of the main issues identified during discussions about this
plan. Given that transport solutions such as a shuttle bus are unlikely to be
sustainable in the shorter term it seems sensible to focus on providing
better maps of the routes and making physical improvements to them
initially. It was identified in the 2008 Master Plan which proposed improving
three main routes – Chester Burn East, Roman Avenue and Ropery Lane
from the north, centre and south of the town centre across to the riverside.
These three routes appear the best options but with some modifications.
Firstly, given that the cost of installing a new crossing such as an iconic
bridge is likely to be prohibitive in the short to medium term the northerly
route from Chester Burn East will need to follow the existing route to the
underpass which could be upgraded significantly e.g. by being widened
and better lit. This would be the main route from the market place. (It could
perhaps incorporate a cycle route?)
Secondly both the north and central links should be linked in to Middle
Chare and St Cuthbert’s – as the historical hub of the town this is where
many visitors will be located when they decide to head to the riverside. The
routes will also need to be signed from both Middle and Lower Chare car
parks.
Signage is already being improved along the Ropery Lane route which is
the obvious route from the station to the cricket ground(s). This route is
along quite a busy road and ends at the busy roundabout at Riverside.
It is suggested that surveys of each route are undertaken (including photos)
– to identify minor and more major improvements which could be made to
upgrade the visual appearance, ease of access (eg for wheelchairs and
buggies) and safety. Ideally these surveys could be done by both transport
engineers/experts who will sport technical issues and solutions and also
users who may pick up on the more aesthetic issues and user friendliness.
Improvements could include: graffiti removal, repainting of signage or
facades, planting (permanent or seasonal eg hanging baskets), additional
pedestrian direction signs, removal of obsolete or illegal signage, lowered
kerbs, resurfacing, widening pavements, replacement fencing. A list of
recommendations for each route should be compiled and action prioritised
on the urgent and easier items to make a swift impact. Incentives could be
offered to private owners of properties or signage which requires attention
such as having the work done half price or free of charge.
Timetable
Survey routes 2010. Early action late 2010.
Next steps
Agree scope and mechanism for surveying the routes.
8.
Make more of the town’s Christian Heritage
Project no.
3.1
Priority action
Strengthen and promote the heritage offer at the church, Anker’s House,
highlight the Lindisfarne Gospels, other churches, Cuddy’s Corse etc. Link
in to VCD campaigns. Plus link to earlier Roman heritage e.g. Great North
Road and later town heritage eg mining and industry
Cost
Small – mainly volunteer time (periodic meetings and liaison on an ongoing
basis, plus visits/training events)
Lead Delivery
Organisation
Church and Heritage Group
31
Other Partners
VCD, AAP, Durham Attractions Group
Key Issues
St Mary’s and St Cuthbert’s Church provides a landmark and focal point
for the town. It is much more interesting than many churches, staffed by
helpful volunteers and with much to see including the Lindisfarne Gospels,
paintings of St Cuthbert’s journey, the Lumley Warriors, plus many
interesting artefacts in and outside the church. The information available
inside the church is a little fragmented – there is a leaflet, ‘bat boards’ and
a beautifully produced saleable guide as well as the volunteers – and for
example each gave slightly different information about the Lumley Warriors.
It might be a good time for the interpretation to be reviewed and
updated/consolidated – in particular the bat boards could be easily
upgraded or more information could be provided at each relevant part of
the church. Being able to handle the copy of the Gospels is a real selling
point and should be highlighted for visitors. There is now much good
practice and advice on interpreting churches for visitors which could be
sought. More revenue could be raised by promoting the saleable guide
more prominently.
From the church volunteers will also give visitors access to the Anker’s
House. Opened in 1987 this has stood the test of time well and the
displays on the Roman and Christian heritage of the town still provide an
interesting short visit. The audio presentation could be highlighted more
prominently as visitors may not notice it until the end of their visit when they
are less likely to pay the 20p charge to listen. Again the museum might
perhaps benefit from an eye of a professional interpretation expert to see if
there are any small improvements which could be made however it
complements the Church very well currently. Longer term plans should
perhaps be considered for new displays in 5-10 years time. The Museum is
referred to on the This is Durham website (and possibly elsewhere) as an
anchorage – which is misleading for visitors.
The Heritage Trail was produced a couple of years ago and links together
many of the stories of the town’s heritage along a walking route with
markers in the ground. It serves its purpose well currently – encouraging a
proportion of visitors to explore the whole town and many will come across
the key panels around the town without necessarily following the trail.
When the supplies of the trail leaflet are due for reprinting it would be wise
to quickly review the whole trail and make amendments as necessary.
Producing a pdf version which could be downloaded from the visitor
webpages and/or from the Heritage Group’s website would help keep
printing costs down and encourage more people to follow it.
There are several other interesting churches around the town such as
Bethel Chapel and the Roman Catholic church. Information on their
interesting features and when they can be visited could be included on
thisisdurham and a heritage/attractions webpage for CLS. If they are not
open often perhaps the opportunity of Heritage Open Days could be used
to open them collectively and have guided tours given by local experts.
The heritage offer of the town is strong but is not joined up and promoted
as strongly as it could be. Cuddy’s Corse route could be better linked in
and cross referenced from the heritage Trail and downloadable from the
website. More joint working for example between the Church volunteers
and the Heritage Group would help share knowledge and skills. Support on
interpretation or volunteer training could probably be sought through local
agencies (English Heritage) or by making stronger links with other Christian
heritage sites such as Durham Cathedral, Bede’s World (plus perhaps
Beamish) etc. Inviting staff and volunteers from these facilities to visit
Chester-le-Street would improve their knowledge of the town’s heritage and
32
encourage them to promote it and reciprocal visits and advice could ensue.
VCD undertake heritage themed marketing campaign activity and Chesterle-Street could be featured more prominently within this with proactive input
from town partners.
Timetable
Discussions 2010 for improvements in 2011
Next steps
Facilitate discussions. Make contacts with organisations to see if advice,
support or interest available.
9.
Establish a town heritage hub/centre
Project no.
3.2
Priority action
A town heritage hub/centre in a centrally located building for displays about
the town’s history and heritage. Stories not already told at the church and
Anker’s House. Potentially could also act as a TIC. Needs to incorporate
storage for Heritage Group resources.
Cost
Provision of space – ideally for peppercorn rent. Running costs would need
to be quantified depending on location and agreement with host body.
Volunteer input from Heritage Group.
Lead Delivery
Organisation
Heritage Group
Other Partners
DCC, AAP, businesses or other facilities.
Key Issues
The Heritage Group is a significant asset to Chester-le-Street containing
active volunteers who have secured funding to carry out many heritage
projects over recent years, including helping to set up the town heritage
trail. Currently the Heritage Group has:
An extensive range of photographic material relating to the town (and
some on the villages.)
• Copies of old maps
• Expertise and local knowledge of group members
• A well-used website
• Video material of some events in the town’s past
• Census data for CLS for much of 19th century
• Other records relating to individuals, institutions, the local authority,
businesses, schools, churches, community groups
• CD/DVDs of interest for sale e.g. photos of shops and businesses in the
town, and information on historical waggonways
• The Chester Chronicle newspaper records.
The Group offers a weekly drop-in session for the public at the Salvation
Army church at which they answer queries and accept information from
members of the public and can assist people researching their family tree.
They produce themed displays or exhibitions in public locations and source
photographs for display or publicity – all for the benefit of the local
community.
The Roman and Christian Heritage of the town is well covered at St
Cuthbert’s Church and the Anker’s House. However there are other stories
about the town’s more recent history which are not told. Beamish has
excellent displays on the social and industrial heritage of County Durham
and the North East.
•
33
This proposal is to both assist the Heritage Group by identifying display and
storage space for their resources but to capitalise on their activities to
strengthen the heritage offer of the town by identifying space for a
permanent heritage hub or centre. The Group could mount exhibitions –
perhaps changing then annually or twice a year – and could offer a heritage
research service which would attract a small niche group of visitors.
A purpose built heritage centre (as proposed in the Master Plan) is
currently much too ambitious and no resources are likely to be available for
this. However by identifying some dedicated space that could be
guaranteed for a significant period of time – perhaps 4 or 5 years – a
valued facility could be established and developed over time.
Depending on the space available there might also be scope for provision
of tourist information and developing other services such as guided
walks/talks over time. The facility and exhibitions would need to be
designed to be unstaffed much of the time but volunteers could provide
assistance at set times or by prearrangement.
The main criteria for the heritage hub are:
• A central town location
• A building which is staffed by others during the day
• Enough space for displays and storage
• Minimal or no rent. (The host organisation should be able to generate
benefits from lending out the space by generating additional footfall, eg
for a café, or reputational advantages from hosting such a facility or
identify scope for joint heritage projects eg with young or old people).
• Guaranteed for a specific number of years
Options might include:
Mile House, the Civic Centre, the Library, the Youth Centre and the Parish
Centre – or possible a private sector property.
Sponsorship of the heritage hub might be possible with the sponsor paying
a small rent for the facility in return for profile and promotion on site and on
websites.
Timetable
Next steps
Consult over possible options during 2010
Open discussions with possible hosts, sponsors.
10.
Additional visitor accommodation
Project no.
5.1
Priority action
Support the development of a new quality mid price hotel at the
International Cricket Ground.
Cost
Mainly officer time (approx two weeks in total)
Lead Delivery
Organisation
??
Other Partners
Key Issues
DCCC, VCD, DCC, AAP, Business Link, ONE
Although there are 5 hotels within 3 miles of the town centre, most are out
of the town and at least two are quite expensive. There are relatively few
B&Bs and none of the pub or inn accommodation is quality inspected.
There is felt to be a lack of medium price hotel accommodation such as a
branded chain in the town centre. Certainly if travelling by train and the
town B&B is booked up there are almost no options which are reachable on
foot – other than Lumley Castle a mile away which is quite a luxury offer.
34
While a taxi or bus ride would reach the other hotels and B&Bs easily this is
an extra hassle and expense for visitors and they are then less likely to visit
the town itself eg for food in the evening or to shop. Having more good
accommodation in the town centre would generate more revenue for town
centre businesses and give the visitor much better options.
Planning permission has been granted for a hotel (100-150 beds) at the
cricket ground however it is not clear when that will go ahead. One or two
other town centre sites have also been identified. There is a limited amount
local organisations can do to influence private sector investment decisions
of this nature, especially in an economic recession. This destination plan
could be used to indicate to potential investors how the town sees its
tourism offer developing in the future which should help provide more
confidence and demonstrate a ‘direction of travel’ for the town. VCD and
DCC should support the existing plans for the hotel at the Emirates Durham
International Cricket Ground. It is possible a timescale for the development
may be forthcoming as the national financial situation becomes clearer over
the next year. Useful activity might include carrying out a study of demand
for accommodation – trying to collate occupancy data from existing
accommodation and identify demand, trends, etc. The VCD Business
Engagement Team may be best placed to do this. It would also inform the
demand for additional B&B, pub, farmhouse type accommodation.
Timetable
Next steps
In the meantime there are other smaller opportunities to boost the volume
and quality of visitor accommodation in and around the town through
upgrading existing pub accommodation and encouraging more people to
set up B&Bs. Whether or not the hotel goes ahead boosting the volume of
smaller accommodation means visitors will continue to have a choice – not
everyone enjoys the more anonymous hotel experience and pubs are
popular with some as they offer food and drink on site without having to
seek it out in the evening. Project 5.2 and 5.7 highlight these options and
lots of advice is available to businesses which want to consider these
options, including farm diversification or private residences being turned
into B&Bs. Existing pubs can be approached by business engagement
staff. The National Farmers Union/Business Link might be able to put word
out through the farming community and the launch of this plan might be an
opportunity to highlight the need for more B&Bs locally.
Hotel development unknown. Highlighting other accommodation
opportunities – immediate.
Discussions with DCCC, other chains, pubs, publicity over need and
opportunity.
35
6.4
Common themes to develop with other towns
Several themes and actions have arisen in more than one of the five Market Town Welcome towns
in Durham.
•
Events development and support
Events have been identified as an important action in all the towns. The volunteer
experience and capacity in each town can be stretched – sometimes just one or two people
are the main organisers. There is scope for a cross county approach to provide support and
encouragement to the town’s events organisers. This could include a network, shared
resources and expertise, training, even a small events development grant scheme if
additional funding could be secured.
•
New town maps/leaflets
Key project 1 above is the production of a simple but good quality map based leaflet for
Chester-le-Street. There is scope for producing a family of leaflets for Durham’s market
towns which while promoting the special character of each presents them as a group. This
could help spread design and print costs. They could be racked together in TICs as an
attractive proposition for visitor segments that enjoy sightseeing in market towns.
•
Web development
As with the leaflet above there is scope for Chester-le-Street visitor webpages – see key
project 3 above. It should have a modern and fresh appeal for visitors. It could be relatively
simple linking to the thisisdurham website and other relevant sites. It needs to be optimised
so that people searching for Chester-le-Street will find it immediately.
Some of the same design and mapping used in the map leaflet above could be applied to the
website to ensure each has a fresh and coherent image.
•
Transport – linking things up
Linking up attractions which are spread around different locations arose as an issue in some
of the market towns. In Chester-le-Street the main issue is linking the riverside and the town
centre. Options for addressing this could include better signage for cars and pedestrians and
good visitor maps. However in some locations a visitor transport option such as a shuttle bus
might be feasible, particularly as visitor numbers rise or perhaps during specific events.
Towns could check what others have considered and look for successful models amongst
other market towns in the region or further afield.
•
Investment portfolio
The destination plans have identified specific investment opportunities in each town. These
could be collated and promoted collectively to potential private sector investors in the region
as a printed or web-based portfolio.
•
Ensuring buy-in and leadership to co-ordinate and drive implementation of the plan
Each town will face the issue of how to drive forward the implementation of the priority
projects in their plan. It is important to ensure that local tourism related businesses are able
to participate in discussion and implementation of this plan and feel some ownership. While
the solution may be different in each town there will be benefits from sharing experience,
networking between the towns and being able to source advice and support from county
bodies.
36
•
Visitor survey
Chester-le-Street (along with Bishop Auckland and Seaham) were not included in previous
market town visitor surveys (last undertaken in 2004). They have much less data on their
visitors – who is coming currently, where they stay and how much they spend. It would be
very valuable to undertake a standard visitor survey in order to collect data which can then
be collected again a few years later to monitor trends. In fact the same survey could be
undertaken in all of Durham’s market towns to enable benchmarking – it can be very
valuable to be able to measure each town’s performance against each other to identify
specific issues and problems for future action.
•
Other monitoring
Other measures could also be taken to monitor the progress towards the objectives of the
market town destination plans. These include:
-
Undertaking the tourism audit every few years to monitor the number of businesses,
facilities etc and whether they have increased or decreased and whether higher
proportions are quality graded.
-
Periodic business surveys to monitor business confidence, investment and trends.
-
Compiling visitor figures from key attractions to monitor trends.
-
Progress with achieving the action plan actions – it might also be useful to share
experience between towns to learn from each other what has been most successful. In
addition to the other County Durham market towns another town with some similar
attributes which Chester-le-Street could probably learn from is Hexham (Christian
heritage, large sporting venue, riverside).
Visit County Durham will be able to act as a delivery partner for many of these actions and they are
identified as such in the Action Plan.
•
Sharing good practice
As well joining up with other County Durham market towns there could be scope for Chesterle-Street to learn from experience elsewhere and share ideas about developing and
promoting tourism. A possible comparator town is Hexham in Northumberland. It too has a
strong Christian heritage as one of its selling points, it also has a big sporting venue (the
racecourse not a cricket ground) on the edge of town. Other similarities are being set on a
river and just off a busy road route, not far from Newcastle. There are of course lots of
differences between the towns but local partners in Chester-le-Street might find it useful to
visit Hexham, meet some of the key players there and learn about how they have tackled
some of their challenges. Hexham undertook a Market Town Welcome exercise in 2009.
6.5
Taking the Plan Forward
In order to implement this plan it is essential that there is a local leadership group in place in each
town. They will be able to champion the plan, ensure that the plan is understood amongst all
partners and sectors and will be able to contribute to the plan themselves. Their role will be to coordinate implementation by partners and monitor progress. They may also be directly involved in
implementing some of the actions not being taken forward by others. They should also co-ordinate
communication about the Plan and celebrate the successes as actions are completed.
The role of the leadership group may be able to be taken on by an existing group in the town, or a
specific sub-group. This may require the strengthening of existing groups for example by recruiting
37
more representatives from tourism businesses or organisations and widening communications eg to
include owners of key attractions. Where a group does not currently exist, towns will need to
establish one.
It is important to keep the focus on the town as a destination and the visitor throughout.
38
7.
Annexes
39
7.1
Market Town Welcome Template
The questions we have to answer
How we work out the answers
Step 1 Why welcome visitors?
(what are the benefits?)
Initial workshop
Step 2 Who are our town’s visitors?
(now and in the future)
Town role
Establish Leadership Group
Visitor surveys/segmentation
Recruit extra people
Step 3 What does our town offer visitors?
(why do they/will they come?)
Business survey
Step 4 How well does the offer meet the visitors’ expectations?
(what is the current visitor experience like?)
Champion survey and
help lead tourism audit
Step 5 How is tourism resourced, managed and promoted in the town?
(who is involved?)
Step 6 What are our town’s strengths and weaknesses?
(plus future opportunities and threats)
Town tourism audit
Town welcome workshop
Step 7 What is the vision for our town in 5 years time?
(what do we want the visitor experience to be then?)
Step 8 How do we get there?
(and who needs to be involved?)
Action planning with
Leadership Group
Market Town Destination Plan for our town
40
Publicise workshop and
lead action planning
7.2
Market Town Welcome in Chester-le-Street - Participants
Individuals who have contributed to the development of this plan
Beaty Bainbridge
Allan Bainbridge
Derek Briggs
Catherine Button
Colin Carr
Jim Carroll
Margaret Caygill
Carol Dillon
Deb Divanis
Richard Dowson
Joan Durkin
Dawn Fairlamb
Claire Fewster
Elsie Forrester
Karen Gibson
Linda Goundry
Angus Graver
Stephen Hann
Harris Harvey
David Holding
Lisa Jordan
Dennis King
Peter Lawson
Lesley Lines
Jackie Martin
Alex Nelson
Derek Newton
Sue Parkinson
Colin Reynolds
Melissa Roach
Joyce Roberts
Mick Rodgers
Jake Rollings
Elaine Rollings
Jacqui Savage
Kevin Sears
John Sheehan
John Shiell
John Smerdon
Ray Smith
Derek Snaith
Allen Turner
Peter Usher
Lucy Wearne
Adrian White
Sandra Whitefield
Keith Willcock
Audrey Willis
Craig Wilson
Val Wilson
Anne Wright
Durham County Councillor
Durham County Councillor
CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
CLS Heritage Group
Durham County Councillor/ CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
Resident
Resident
Durham County Council, Planning
Cornerstone Project, Methodist Church
Durham County Cricket Club
Resident
New College Durham
County Durham Economic Partnership
Resident
Durham County Council, Regeneration
Durham County Council, Regeneration
Resident
Resident
Durham County Council, Transport
Resident
Durham County Coucnil
Business Community
Resident
Durham County Council, CLS Area Action Partnership
Resident
Business Community, Chester-le-Track
Resident
Chester-le-Street & Durham Enterprise Agency/ CLS AAP Board Member
CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
Durham County Council, Leisure
Business Community, Teeny Totz
Resident
CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
Resident
Business Community, Queens Head
Business Community, Launderette
Business Community, Solicitor
Durham County Councillor/ CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
Durham County Council, Planning
Business Community, David Summerfield
Durham County Council, CLS Area Action Partnership
Durham County Councillor
Business Community
Visit County Durham
Durham County Council
Low Urpeth Farm B&B and self catering
Hollathons Restaurant
Durham County Councillor
Visit County Durham
Ankers Museum and Church
Durham County Councillor/ CLS Area Action Partnership Board Member
41
7.3
Tourism Audit
Market town area is defined within an approximate radius of ____3______ miles from the town edge.
Which includes the hamlets/settlements of ___Beamish, Pelton, Newfield, Pelton Fell, Waldridge, Great
Lumley_______________________________________________________
1. Accommodation
Please collect numbers of each type of accommodation. For smaller towns you may want to list all
accommodation businesses individually.
Number
No. of bedrooms,
units or pitches
Hotels
• Lumley Castle
• The Moorings
• Beamish Hall Hotel
• The Church Mouse
• Chilton Country Pub and Hotel
• Total rooms
5
Guesthouses/B&Bs
• Hollycroft
• Low Urpeth Farm
• Malling Guest House
• Total rooms
3
Inns or pubs with accommodation
• The Red Lion Hotel
• The Lambton Arms
• Newfield Inn
• The Lambton Worm
• Total rooms
4
Self-Catering businesses
• Low Urpeth Farm
• Old Stable Cottage
• Old Power House
• Plasworth Hall Farm
• Total units
4
units
3
1
1
19
24
Caravan & Camping sites
• Bobby Shafto Caravan site
• Finchale Abbey
• Grange Caravan Club Site
• The Bungalow, Hartside
• Totals pitches
4 (within 5 miles)
pitches
50
50
100
5
205
Youth or other hostels
0
Other group accommodation
0
74
9
36
21
25
165
3
3
3
9
Number officially
quality inspected
3
4 star
4 star
2 star
3
4 star
4 star
3 star
0
3
8
3
14
28
42
4
All 4 star
Are there any particular gaps in the type or quality of accommodation for the size of your town?
Medium quality, (branded / chain) hotel in Chester le Street Town Centre
2. Attractions
Please include all sites which would be of interest to visitors, adding additional rows as necessary.
Names
Opening
days/months
Your quality
score*
Beamish Museum
Seasonal – March
– October 7 days
per week ,
restricted days in
low season
5
Ankers House
Mon – Sat (Thurs
pm) Easter Monday
– Oct 31st
4
3
It was here that the Gospels
were first translated into
Saxon English and one of
only three facsimiles of the
Lindisfarne Gospels can be
seen at the Church
November to Easter 10 am to 12.30 pm
Monday to Friday
From Easter to
October - 10 am to
3.00 pm Monday to
Friday, Saturday 10.30 am to 12.30
pm
Beamish Hall Birds of Prey
and ropes activity centre
(Beamish Wild)
daily flight displays at
11:00 am and 14:00
hrs.
3
Riverside
24/7
4
Farm attractions
Plawsworth Strawberry
Farm
Seasonal
2
Gardens
Riverside
Daylight hours
3
Historic houses, castles
Washington Old Hall
Finchale Abbey
Museums, heritage centres
Viaduct (grade 1 listed)
Penshaw Monument (NT)
Causey Arch world’s
oldest railway bridge
Churches of interest to
visitors
Animal/wildlife attractions
inc. nature reserves
St Mary & St Cuthbert
CLS
Broom House Farm and
woodland adventure trail
(Witton Gilbert)
43
Railway, transport
attractions
Chester le Track
Tanfield Railway
Country parks, woodlands,
special countryside sites
Waldridge Fell Country
Park and SSS1
Durham County
Showground and Country
Park at Herrington
Moorhouse Woods (NT)
Cong Burn Wood (local
nature reserve)
Rainton Meadows Nature
Reserve (DWT)
Washington Wetland
centre (WWT)
Brasside Pond, Frankland
(DWT)
Necklace Park
0730 to 1800 and
from 0730 to 1300 on
Saturdays
3
24/7
3
Craft centres
Other
2
Market – see markets
under section 3
Garden centres
Dobbies, Chesters Grove,
Lambton Park,
* Also mark any which have an official quality grading from the Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme
2b Festivals and Events
List regular or annual festivals and events which will be of interest to visitors, in calendar order, using
extra lines if necessary.
Date
Event
Details
20 Mar
St Cuthbert’s Day walk
CLS to Durham
Good
Friday
Walk of Witness
Along Front Street
17 April
Regatta
CLS Amateur Rowing Club
April
Great North Bus Challenge
1st Sun in
June
Tyne-Tees Run
June
Proms in the Park
Midway halt is in CLS
44
Cricket
Ongoing programme of games, plus Ashes
2013
Outdoor theatre
Are there any gaps, for example at particular times of the year
Does the range of events match the types of interests that visitors have?
Food
Music
History / Heritage
3. Retail
Those towns which took part in the Retail Distinctiveness Programme will be able to use that
information to complete this sheet. Note only those shops which will be of particular interest to
visitors. In smaller towns that is likely to include food shops, but in larger towns focus on speciality
shopping rather than the whole retail sector.
Shops
No. of which in each quality category
Retail type
No. of
shops
Names
(omit if too many to
list)
5
Speciality Food
2
Seasons wholefoods
Micro brewery at
Beamish Hall
1
Antiques
0
Books
1
The Bookcase
Arts / Crafts
4
Aspects, Teeny Totz,
Sew & Go, the Model
Shop
Gift
3
Aspects, Hallmark,
David Summerfield
Outdoor/Leisure
0
Clothing
8
Garden centres/
nurseries
4
4
3
2
1
1
1
1
2
3
8
Chester’s Grove,
Dobbies, Lambton Park
at Bournmoor, Cong
45
Burn Nurseries
1
Other Speciality or
‘destination’ shops
Cestria Cycles
1
Markets
Market
type
name
regularity
Outdoor
CLS Market
3
Indoor
In Shops
6
Speciality
Christmas
day(s)
of week
5
4
3
1
2
1
2
2
1 p.a.
1
Eating out
No.
Names
5
4
3
2
1
(omit if too many to list)
Restaurants
6
Take-aways
18
Cafes/tea shops
13
Pubs serving food
16
Other
1
6
18
2
11
1
5
10
1
Vacant shops
How many vacant shops are there in the town currently?
15, (4 in St Cuthberts walk, 11 on Front
Street)
Sunday opening
How many shops are open on Sundays?
Negligible
How many eating places are open on Sundays?
22
Early evenings
How many shops are open in the early evening 5pm-7pm?
Negligible
How many eating places are open in the early evening?
22
Half day closing
How many shops observe a half day closing?
1 ½ day Monday, 5 ½ day Wednesday
Which day of the week?
Are there any particular gaps in the retail and catering offer of your town for a town of its size?
46
Brand chains e.g. Next, River Island, Wallis, M & S
No outdoor leisure shops, no antique shops
NB – 8 Charity shops (9 soon)
4. Sports, outdoor activity and entertainment facilities
Please note all facilities which are available for visitors (i.e. not private clubs etc). Add extra rows as
necessary.
Facility
Name
Brief details
Quality grading
5
4
1
3
Leisure centre/
gym
4
Banatynes
Body Tone
CLS Leisure
Limitz
1
Cricket Ground
1 Riverside
International Cricket
Ground
1
Swimming pool
1
CLS leisure centre
Golf
4?
CLS Golf Club
Beamish Golf Club
Pelton Roseberry Golf
Club
Grange Villa
Birtley?
1
Long distance
footpaths
3
Weardale Way
Consett and
Sunderland railway
path
3
Other named
walks
2
CLS Riverside
Cuddy’s Corse – St
Cuthbert’s Walk to
Durham
1
Cycle routes
1
Coast to Coast
1
Riding/pony
trekking
2
Coppy Farm
Southill Livery & Riding
Centre
2
2
1
Riverside Leisure
Complex
3
1
Bicycle hire
Special riding
routes
Fishing
47
2
1
Sailing
Canoeing
1
Donald Owen Centre
CADAC
Other outdoor
activities, sports
Bowling clubs
CLS Bowling Club at
Riverside Park,
Pelton Fell
1
Theatre
Cinema*
Other
entertainment
facilities
Mobile cinema touring
local venues
Pelaw Grange
Stadium
7 Tennis Courts
Temp ice rink
Greyhound racing
1
Riverside
Christmas
* include regular film showing arrangements if appropriate
Are there any particular gaps or weaknesses for a town of its size?
Permanent Cinema/Theatre
5. Support facilities and infrastructure
Car parking
Free
Short stay
Long stay
No. of car parks
5
9
No. of spaces in total
212
356
Car park – Sat only
Civic Centre
Riverside
(some overflow but
grassed areas)
Station – (always full)
1
111
4
425
1
Metered
n/a
30
On street parking
places (approx)
Disabled parking
spaces
Free
n/a
?
48
2
•
Civic Centre
Long Stay
35 Spaces
•
Lucy Street
Long Stay
26 Spaces
•
North Burns
Long Stay
50 Spaces
•
Wilfrid Street
Long Stay
42 Spaces
•
Cricket Club
Long Stay
6 Spaces
•
Osborne Road
Short Stay
47 Spaces
•
Foundry Lane
Long Stay
51 Spaces
•
Middle Chare
Short Stay
80 Spaces
•
Low Chare
Short Stay
49 Spaces
•
St Mary’s
Long Stay
32 Spaces
•
Cone Terrace
Long Stay
68 Spaces
•
Youth Centre
Short Stay
18 Spaces
•
Burns Green
Long Stay
46 Spaces
•
Leisure Centre
Short Stay
18 Spaces
Coach Parking
Location
capacity
Riverside
16
Location(s) for dropping off
passengers
Location(s) for coach parking
Estimated no. of coaches visiting Dependant on season / cricket
the town each week?
Any related issues?
Need to designate coach parking in town centre especially if going to target that market.
Other transport facilities
No.s and locations of bicycle racks/storage
3
Location of central bus station/shelter
Front Street and South Burns – just bus shelters no
“station”
Facilities available at bus station/shelter
N/A
No. of daily buses linking to other towns
139 – more??
Distance from town centre to nearest
railway station
Walking
49
Public toilets
Toilet location
Foundry Lane Car
Park
Market
Riverside
Opening hours
8.30 – 5.00pm
8.30 – 5.00pm
free/paid
paid
paid
disabled access yes/no
yes
Market -1
yes
baby changing yes/no
yes
Market –the same 1
yes
Are there any particular weaknesses or gaps for a town of its size?
Signage
6. Visitor Information Centre
Visitor / Tourist Information Centres (VICs/TICs) are the public face of tourism. They provide a vital role
both in the planning of visits to the destination and influencing activity once the visitor has arrived, thus
encouraging longer stays and increased spend. They also play an important role in providing an
information service to residents and hence support the key Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) market.
Does your town have a
VIC/ TIC?
no
If not, where is your
nearest centre?
Location
Contact Name
Telephone Number
Email Address
Durham City
Are there gaps in the current information available to meet these requests? If so, what further types of information
would be useful?
Very little information available for visitors at all, other than leaflets for heritage trail, anker’s house and nearby
attractions.
How well does the town meet the needs and expectations of visitors and what improvements are needed to better
meet their requirements?
More co-ordinated and web-based information required.
50
7. Tourist Information Points (TIPs)
TIPs are the notice or information boards which provide useful information for visitors such as a map of
where they are and things to see and do. They are often located in car parks, town centres or key sites.
Please survey and include details of those in your town, using additional columns if necessary.
Number in town:
2
Locations
Station
Front Street
Content of each e.g. maps,
adverts, events
Currently empty
Currently empty
Is it well maintained?
Who is responsible for
maintenance?
Is the content appropriate
and up to date?
Are there any additional locations where a TIP is needed?
In key visitor car parks
8. Interpretation
Interpretative materials play a key role in providing visitors with in depth information about a town or
destination – beyond basic directions and information, they tell the story of a destination, informing
visitors about its history and points of interest. Interpretative materials can vary tremendously - we
suggest you focus on interpretative boards/panels, wall plaques, tours/signed trails, and guided tours.
Is there any interpretation around the
town?
Detail
All interpretation Boards relate to heritage trail.s
Boards or panels at key sites or on key
buildings of interest
Heritage Trail
51
Plaques on specific buildings
Wesleyan Chapel, Station Road; Mr Pickwichs, 84 Front
St; 114 Front Street; Post Office, 142 Front Stree; 168
Front St. 57 – 59 Front Street, Santander
Signed tours or trails around the town
Heritage Trail – trail discs in the ground indicating the
route
Regular guided tours around the town
no
Other interpretation materials
Riverside – 4
Other - 3
Who is responsible for maintenance of panels, plaques and signs?
Needs investigating
Are there any gaps where further / new interpretative materials could be provided?
From Station to Town Centre
9. Visitor Pedestrian Signposting
Pedestrian signposting, usually in the form of finger posts, plays an important role in ensuring that
visitors to a town centre are able to orientate themselves effectively and find they way about. Looking at
every individual finger post in larger towns is potentially a complicated and time consuming task - for the
audit in this case we suggest the following approach;
•
•
Choose a maximum of four locations (and the subsequent walking route to the town centre)
which are key entry points/points of arrival for visitors – i.e. the main visitor car parks, bus/railway
station/ dropping off point - and assess the following points
In smaller towns where there are fewer than four fingerposts simply assess each in turn.
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
Location or start point Pedestrian
signage recorded in town centre and
from station to town centre
Is there a TIP showing where you are in
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
relation to the town centre? – N/A
No
No
No
No
Signs to the Tourist / Visitor Information
Centre? N/A
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Signs to public toilets? 2 signs in front street
No
X
No
X
No
X
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Signs to main visitor attraction(s)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blue Cricket Ground sign by Library
No
No
No
No
52
X
Cricket ground outside Coffee Bank
Finger signpost outside Wicket Gate Pub –
Cricket Ground, Market Place, Toilets,
Heritage Trail and Hospital
Is there good continuity of
signposts/fingerposts along the route? N/A
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Quality of Signing
Are routes clear? No
Are fingerposts obscured or pointing the
wrong way? No, No
Are fingerposts well maintained? Yes (i.e. not
in disrepair)
Are their any obvious gaps in terms of
facilities which are not currently signed?
Ankers House, St Marys & St Cuthberts
Church, Roman Remains on Church Chare
10. Road signposting for visitors
Feedback from visitors suggests that visitor signposting is consistently identified as something
destinations could improve. More often than not, when a first time visitor travels to a destination,
advance signposting will be their first experience of the destination – so it is important to make a good
first impression. Visitors particularly value brown and white visitor signing which is easy to recognise and
is designed specifically for their purposes.
Perhaps more so than the previous areas of the information audit, assessing road signposting to a
destination is a complex area to consider – encompassing a range of logistical, technical and road safety
and highway management issues. In practical terms, the most important areas to consider are the main
road routes into the market towns
•
•
•
Choose a maximum of four main road routes into the market towns (if there are fewer than 4
main routes, only assess those that are appropriate), starting from the nearest strategic road or
junction.
In larger towns these routes will be assessed by travelling along the route in a car, two people
are required to carry out this aspect of the audit. Drive along the route from your chosen starting
point, noting details on the issues set out in the template. Safety warning - only carry out this
survey at a quiet time and in good weather. Plan your route and stops in advance. Drive
carefully and be aware of traffic behind you. If any routes are hazardous for this type of
survey do not undertake it yourselves but discuss signage with your highways authority.
In smaller towns it may possible to complete this survey on foot - Safety warning - again
consider safety issues carefully before surveying along busy roads on foot, particularly if
there is no pavement. Be especially careful if taking photographs.
53
Route 1
Route 2
Route 3
Route 4
starting point
A1 N & S
A167 Durham
A693 (A68)
Railway Stn
finishing point
CLS
CLS
CLS
Town Centre
Are there any signs on the route indicating Yes
that this is a market town of interest to
No
visitors?
No signs re Market Town, only signs re
Beamish, Riverside, Civic Centre
Are there any white on brown tourist signs?
- Record any details / location
Yes
No
X
X
2 times N & 2
times S,
Beamish,
Riverside
Signposting to the Tourist Information Centre Yes
N/A
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
X
X
2 times
Beamish,
Riverside
Yes
No
Yes
No
X
x
Yes
No
Yes
No
Signs to
Greyhound
Stadium x 2
Eden Place x 3
Caravan&Cam
ping Park x 3
Causey Arch
x3
Tanfield
Railway x 4
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
- Record any details / location
Signposting for main attractions? Beamish
and Riverside
-
Yes
No
X
Record any details / location
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Beamish
Museum x 12 1 obscured
Beamish Hall
Hotel x 3
Cricket Ground
& Sports Pav
x5
Riverside
Sports Pav x 1
Riverside x 6 –
1 obscured
Cycletrack x 2
Lumley Castle
x2
Information x
3
Wecome to
Riverside x 4
Riverside Walk
x4 including 3
finger posts
Coach Park x 1
Railway
Station x 3
From roundabout towards riverside, both
sides
54
Yes
No
X
Signposting for visitor car parks?
Yes
No
X
Yes
N
Xo
- Record any details / location
Signposting for public toilets?
Yes
No
x
Yes
No
Riverside area
Yes
No
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
X
Yes
No
X
- Record any details / location
Is there an out-of-town Tourist Information
Point on the main road before entering/
turning off to the town?
- Record any details / location
Continuity of signposting
Where facilities are signposted, does this
remain consistent along the routes?
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Are the signs appropriately maintained (not
in disrepair)
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Visually- are they clear
*2 obscured on route 3
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
*
Quality of signing.
Are there any out of date signs which need to Yes
be removed or rationalised
No
Signs at Riverside – still CLS
X
Note details for reporting to Highway
authority
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
X
Yes
No
2 Obscured
signs
55
7.4
Visitor Market Segments
More detailed descriptions of the four ArkLeisure market segments used in County Durham.
1. Functionals
Outlook
• Functionals are very resistant to spending and appear pretty self reliant.
• They are very price driven and value functionality strongly over style.
• They are very traditional in their values, and are not prepared to pay for fashion, style or
“individuality”.
• Service is something that they expect as opposed to something they will pay extra for.
• Whilst they are not early adopters they are interested in new experiences, and are happy to try
new things.
• They also enjoy intellectual challenges, arts and culture.
Interests and Activities
• Personal interests – DIY, gardening, arts & culture.
• Days out and attractions – Interested in heritage attractions. Seeking a nostalgic and somewhat
educational experience.
• Shopping – Higher propensity to use the lower cost supermarkets e.g. co-op. Budget clothes
shops are used and a low amount spent on clothes purchases.
• Eating & drinking – Lower propensity to eat and drink out compared to other segments. Price &
functionality is important. Social clubs or Weatherspoons pubs are favoured drinking
establishments (price sensitive).
• Nights out – Most likely to be a trip to the cinema or a trip to the theatre.
• Media – Mail & Telegraph are the most popular newspapers. Lowest proportion of all segments
owning satellite/ cable TV. Into news, films and comedy.
• Holidays – Most likely to choose a specialist operator or an independent holiday company.
Unlikely to use a dedicated internet holiday company but quite likely to book accommodation
online & arrange travel themselves. Low frequency of holiday taking and most likely to do a short
break in the UK and a longer holiday overseas.
2. Traditionals.
Outlook
• Traditionals are a main stream market. Their members are relatively self reliant and internally
referenced with possible tendencies towards being sustainers.
• Brand is not a key purchase driver for this segment but it does not mean that they are brand
averse.
• They are more likely to hold traditional values.
• Functionality is far more important than style and they are not swayed by products with style and
individuality, although they will still go for something out of the ordinary.
• They value good service, and this is something that they will pay for, especially in terms of
individual attention.
• They are unlikely to justify spending on expensive alternatives.
• They live life at a relaxed pace and enjoy intellectual challenges, arts and culture.
Interests and Activities
• Days out and attractions - those that are geared towards heritage and investigation will appeal
to the Traditionals. This includes National Trust attractions, churches and cathedrals and
botanical gardens.
56
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
They are looking for days out and attractions that are peaceful & relaxing, nostalgic and
educational.
Personal interests - include gardening and arts and culture.
Eating & Drinking - For Traditionals, the traditional pub is the type of eating and drinking
establishment that holds the greatest appeal.
A good night out - for this segment would be going for a drink or a meal out.
Holidays – Being an older segment, they are most likely to use Saga but also domestic niche
operators (e.g. English Country Cottages). They are also most likely to use the telephone for
booking.
A good short break for Traditionals would give them the chance to escape, slow down and do
their own thing.
Media – Enjoy news, history and nature programmes on TV.
3. Discoverers
Outlook
• Discoverers as the name suggests are independent of Mind.
• They are the group least likely to be worried about what others might think.
• They are little influenced by style or brand unless it represents values they are seeking.
• Function far out rates style as a purchase driver.
• Quite high spenders, and value new products and services as well as new experiences.
• They will judge their value for themselves. If the product suits their needs and is right then they
will spend their money.
• They value good service.
• They live a relatively relaxed pace of life.
• They enjoy intellectual challenges but arts and culture are not really an important part of who
they are.
Interests and Activities
• Personal interests - Include attending sporting events, computer games and DIY.
• Days out and attractions - Discoverers are drawn towards attractions that are geared towards
investigation and amusement. This could include attractions such as zoos, science museums or
living history attractions. They want to be fascinated and absorbed by their days out and go for
something out of the ordinary.
• A good night out - would involve live music.
• Shopping - a discoverer is looking for something that is different from the norm and is more
likely to be attracted towards markets.
• Eating and drinking - the types of eating and drinking establishments that appeal to a
Discoverer are modern, functional but service orientated (e.g. Ha Ha Bar & Canteen, Bar Med).
This segment eats out frequently.
• Media – Have a wide variety of interests when it comes to TV viewing including films, sport,
nature comedy and science programmes.
• Holidays – Independent travel companies (e.g. Trailfinders) appeal to this segment. They are a
group likely to holiday off the beaten track or try to learn something new on their holiday. One of
the least likely segments to book a package holiday.
• A good short break for a Discoverer allows them time to themselves, a chance to escape and the
opportunity to expand their knowledge and experiences.
4. Cosmopolitans
Outlook
•
Strong, active and confident.
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Do what they want rather than follow any particular fashion.
Stylish people but it is individuality rather than fashion that is important to them.
Comfortable trying new things that are out of the ordinary.
Happy to adopt traditional values when appropriate.
Early adopters but this is generally based on their personal interest in new products and
opportunities rather than on fashion trends. A result of this is that they are early to try out new
products, especially in the field of new technology.
• Value and seek functionality in their purchases.
• High-spending market and find it easy to justify buying expensive alternatives.
• To be given individual attention is very important for Cosmopolitans and they are willing to pay for
it.
• Are risk takers and this is reflected in their purchases and their desire for things that are new and
different. They like new challenges, both physical and intellectual.
• Have an appreciation of art and culture.
• Life for this group is full and active, yet peace and relaxation is still valued in the right
circumstances.
Interests and Activities
• Personal interests - Cosmopolitans like shopping, cooking and arts and culture.
• Days out and attractions - Cosmopolitans have a slight bias towards heritage and arts or
cultural attractions. Their active nature is also reflected in the fact that they have a strong appeal
towards days out in the “great outdoors‟ – this could be visits to a National Park, a walk in the
country side or a day at the beach. The atmosphere that they are looking for in a day out is
something that is educational and something that is mentally challenging.
• Shopping - Cosmopolitans spend a lot of money on clothes and up market fashion chains (e.g.
GAP) are where they are likely to be found. They also like places to shop that have a strong
independent sector (e.g. antique shops or specialist shops).
• Eating & drinking - Cosmopolitans are the segment to eat out most often and are drawn to new,
self found, or non-chain restaurants. Wine bars are popular for drinking.
• Nights out - Cosmopolitans have a range of nights out that appeal and these include comedy,
cabaret, theatre and ballet.
• Media – Into films, news and comedy. Less time spent viewing TV than the majority of other
segments.
• Holidays – Most likely segment to use the long haul and more independent operators (e.g.
Kuoni, Expedia, Trailfinders or cruise operators).
• A good short break for a Cosmopolitan allows them to escape, do their own thing and expand
their knowledge or experience.
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•
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There are four further segments in the ArkLeisure segmentation model which were not used in this
study. Style Hounds, High Streets, Habituals and Followers were thought to be the least relevant
segments for Durham market towns.
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