SUSTAINABLE TOURISM WORKING GROUP MINUTES DATE: 15 January 2008 TIME: 10:30am to 1:15pm VENUE: Pebbles Gallery and Art Café, Allendale PRESENT: David Nightingale Jenny Wain Keri Smith Jenna Wright Katharine Birdsall Paul Everson Shane Harris Paul Mercer James Fell Mike Richardson Ian Baker East Cumbria Countryside Project (Chair) Cumbria County Council Cumbria Tourism Eden Tourism (Eden District Council) North Pennines AONB Partnership (Area Co-ordinator) North Pennines AONB Partnership (Office Manager) North Pennines AONB Partnership (Sustainable Tourism & Communications Officer) North Pennines Heritage Trust Tynedale Council Wear Valley District Council YHA 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from: Sonia Kempsey Craig Wilson Sue Mills Andrea McGuigan Alec Mitcheson Val Brown Chris Pope Barbara Samoilenko Katie Blundell Sue Berresford Katy Davies Jennie Collingwood Pauline Elliott Alston Moor Business Association County Durham Tourism Partnership Deneholme/Fawside Derwentside District Council Allen Valleys Tourism & Visitors Network/Fawisde Natural England Natural England Northumberland Tourism Raby Estate Teesdale District Council Teesdale District Council Tynedale Council YHA Ninebanks 1
2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING The minutes of the meeting held on 4 th September 2007 were agreed as a true record. 3. MATTERS ARISING NOT COVERED BY THE AGENDA North Pennines AONB Visitor Publication in 2008 (item 6) 1. Shane advised the group that the tenders for design and print of the Pocket Guide were due to be returned by yesterday (14 th January). He hopes to be able to appoint the designer and printer later this week. The updating is progressing well and the schedule aims for delivery on 25 th February, allowing time for pre-easter distribution. 2. In response to a query from Ian, Shane confirmed that the title is likely to be North Pennines Pocket Guide. 4. ROUND TABLE UPDATE FROM ATTENDEES ON ACTIVITIES RELATING TO THE NORTH PENNINES AONB North Pennines AONB Staff Unit 1. Shane advised that the AONB website has been re-launched. Have a look www.northpennines.org.uk There is a lot of information in the Exploring section relating to sustainable tourism. 2. Planning is underway for the 2008 North Pennines Literature Distribution Day, which will be held on 12 th March at Alston Town Hall. Again it is being run in partnership with Eden Tourism/Alston Moor Information Centre and the Alston Moor Business Association. 3. A number of recent publications were circulated (further copies available on request): Stanhope Fossil Tree Rock Detectives 2007-08 Programme North Pennines News Autumn/Winter Edition Discover Mid-Teesdale Outstanding the latest edition of the NAAONB newsletter 2008 Scenic North Calendar (NAAONB) Cumbria Tourism 4. Keri reported on the new Go-Lakes website. This includes itineraries, an interactive map and the ability to pay on-line for attractions. 5. The new Holiday Guide has been printed (300K copies). This is now thematic rather than split into geographical areas. 6. Keri informed the group of the Wilderness Refined campaign which is now underway, and circulated samples of posters that are to be produced. The group felt that this was very imaginative. 2
North Pennines Heritage Trust 7. Paul updated the group on the ongoing re-structuring at NPHT, including the recent appointments of a Development Manager and a Business Manager. 8. The Heritage Centre had a good start to the 2007 season, but quite a poor summer season. Overall it had a 13% increase on footfall over 2006. They are looking forward to the 2008 season, and new promotional material is expected to be out soon. YHA 9. Ian explained national changes within YHA which aims to ensure more consistent standards / appearance of hostels, with a rolling programme of improvements. 10. Locally, the North Pennines hostels had quite a good 2007 season. Ian advised that Ewan Boyd is exploring the possibility of taking on Langdon Beck YH as an Enterprise Hostel. Tynedale Council 11. James reported that the 2007 TIC Visitor figures for Tynedale were 5% down over 2006. This compared to 6% for Northumberland as a whole, though this level of decline appeared to be reflected nationally. 12. Bellingham TIC is moving to the heritage centre in Bellingham. 13. Use of DESTiNE is to be increased this year. 14. Hadrian s Wall Country Events and Leisure leaflets for 2008 to be produced soon. 15. Hadrians Wall Country Holiday and Short Breaks Guide has been produced by Northumberland Tourism (copies circulated) 16. Tynedale leaflet distribution day event to be held on 4 th March (12noon 5pm) at Wentworth Centre, in conjunction with Hadrian s Wall Heritage. Invites to be sent out to attractions and accommodation providers in next couple of weeks. 17. Local Government Re-organisation pending. Unsure what this will mean in terms of TICs etc in Tynedale. Further details to follow at a future meeting. Eden District Council 18. Jenna reported on the production of their Visitor Guide (50K copies) and Attractions Guide (200K copies). 19. A dedicated Conference Booking line has been set up at Alston TIC. 20. Spring newsletter to be produced in March. 21. On-line booking though DMS on Visit Eden website to commence. 22. There are likely to be some changes at Alston Town Hall soon. The ground floor area is likely to become a library/community centre facility. The scale and size of the TIC is likely to 3
remain about the same. A new meeting room will be provided on the opposite side of the building. Wear Valley District Council 23. Mike reported that the Durham Dales website is being re-vamped. 24. Their Visitor Guide is currently being printed and will be available by early February. 25. Wear Valley leaflet distribution day event to be held on 18 th March (12 2pm) at Helme Park Hotel. Places still available contact Mike if interested in attending (m.richardson@wearvalley.gov.uk). 26. Wear Valley Food Festival is to be held on 12 th April at Auckland Castle. 27. There has been a lot of work with TV companies in the area recently, including filming in Weardale for Wire in the Blood. 28. Harperley PoW Camp closed as a visitor attraction on 23 rd December. The future of the Site is not yet known. Mike will update on this at a future meeting. East Cumbria Countryside Project 29. David advised of the development of a new web-based publication about wood pasture at Geltsdale (currently at final design stage). 30. ECCP has continued to deliver events in the North Pennines including the Rock Detectives Clubs at Talkin Tarn Country Park. 31. A 2008 Events Programme is currently being prepared. This will feature a number of events in the North Pennines. 32. Discussions are being held with Rheged regarding the use of the area which previously housed the National Mountaineering Exhibition, which closed in December (and may move to a new home in Keswick). It is hoped that this will be used for a countryside / environmental display. 33. David also advised that ECCP is going through a re-structuring exercise at present. He will update on this at a future meeting. 5. PROMOTION OF THE GREEN TOURISM BUSINESS SCHEME (GTBS) IN THE NORTH PENNINES 1. Shane updated the group on GTBS activities. 2. Joining GTBS Seminars were held on 10 th and 11 th October, supported through funding from the West Durham Rural Pathfinder. These were well attended and have helped to attract 23 new members. Added to existing members, there are now 32 GTBS members in the North Pennines, which the group commended as excellent news. Some have already had grading / advisory visits by Green Tourism UK, but the remainder are awaiting grading but can still use the branding in the meantime. 4
3. Shane also advised the group of the launch of the Greening Your Tourism Business Grants. These provide funding of between 100 and 500, at 50% - to GTBS members (new and existing) for environmental improvements which will gain credit under the GTBS. 11 applications have been received to date. 4. See also brief 2-page summary of activity. 6. AONB MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW 1. Katharine Birdsall presented a paper (previously circulated) to update the group on the progress to date and future action in respect of the review of the North Pennines AONB Management Plan. 2. She explained that the first stage in the review process was to identify the achievements of the existing plan and key changes required for the new Plan. This has been achieved by way of producing a Scoping Report. This is currently in the final drafting stages and will be out to consultation (3 weeks) in early February. It includes 19 recommendations (which were listed as Annex 1 to the paper previously circulated). 3. Katharine outlined the approach taken, as detailed in the paper. This has involved looking at the existing Action Plan to analyse targets achieved etc., looking at the condition monitoring indicators, and undertaking an assessment of the relevance and usefulness of the Plan taking on board comments from the workshop sessions held at the 2007 Annual Forum, together with comments from the questionnaire which was sent out in August/September 07. 4. In response to a query from Ian, Katharine said that approx 68% of actions in the existing Plan had been achieved / partly achieved. This figure is likely to be even higher by the end of the existing Plan (March 2009). 5. Jenny asked about Strategic Environmental Assessment. Katharine confirmed that she was seeking further advice on this and that the SEA process will run alongside the review. 6. Katharine remarked that she hoped to be able to provide a further progress report at the next meeting. The recommendations were agreed as amended (amendments shown in italics): RECOMMENDATIONS The Working Group is asked to: 1. note the process of date of the scoping review and make informal comments on the draft recommendations (annex 1) 2. note the consultation period for the scoping report (February 2008) and endeavour to make comments to ensure that sustainable tourism interests are properly considered. 7. THE EUROPARC EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM A STRUCTURE TO TAKE TOURISM FORWARD IN THE NORTH PENNINES? 5
1. Shane circulated a brief summary of the Charter and the initial development work being carried out by the Staff Unit attached to the minutes. 2. Shane explained that it is basically an environmental accreditation for management bodies of protected areas. The Charter is based on 12 key principles, as outlined in the paper, which also gives information on potential costs etc. 3. The group were broadly supportive of the proposal as a mechanism to: support the development of a Sustainable Tourism Strategy; further develop the partnership working between the AONB Staff Unit/Partnership and other organisations engaged with tourism development and promotion in the North Pennines; and drive forward the sustainable development of tourism in the AONB based on the area s special qualities. Shane will look further into this, and will report further at the next meeting. A copy of the full Charter will be circulated with these minutes. 8. WILD ABOUT THE NORTH PENNINES NATURE TOURISM SEMINAR 1. Shane referred to the report (previously circulated) on the Wild About the North Pennines seminar held at Mickleton on 6 th November. 2. This was very well attended, with approx 90 delegates. Car sharing was encouraged, and 44% of delegates did so. Carbon off-setting will be achieved by means of the planting of 100 trees through the community-based Trees for Cotherstone and Trees for Eggleston groups. 3. The event itself went well, with over 90% of delegates stating that it met their expectations, along with a similar percentage rating the venue/refreshments/organisation all as excellent/good. 4. The seminar highlighted the potential for the continued development of nature tourism in the North Pennines the wildlife, landscape, plants and geology (on which to base products and packages) is of a high quality. A number of challenges to development were identified e.g. perceived lack of identity, lack of mature product, difficulty of access and information provision, cross-boundary nature of the area, fragmented public transport and negative perceptions of remoteness. 5. Opportunities to move forward are plentiful and include: developing a toolkit for the promotion and development of nature tourism in the area; visitor payback promotion; increased promotion and uptake of the Green Tourism Business Scheme; PR-led campaigns/seeking national TV exposure; increased Area Tourism Partnership co-operation across administrative boundaries; production of an annual guide/directory of wildlife tourism related activities for the North Pennines; development of remote webcams in TICs; production of nature-based tourism itineraries; better integrated and promoted public transport and much, much more! 6. It was noted that the outputs from the Wild about the North Pennines Seminar will be invaluable in informing the review of the AONB Management Plan and could also be useful supporting evidence for a Sustainable Tourism Strategy prepared as part of an application for the Europarc Charter for Sustainable Tourism (Item 7). 9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS 6
Society of Professional Travel Writers 1. Keri reported on a 3-week visit by the Society of Professional Travel Writers in 2007. Border Television 2. Keri reported on a campaign to keep Border TV, which is likely to disappear. Further information available from Keri (ksmith@cumbriatourism.org). Living North Pennines HLF Project 3. Shane reported that the Living North Pennines team are now in post, led by Jon Charlton (formally the Historic Environment Officer). He will ask Jon to come to a future meeting to update the group on the project. 4. Future Meeting Dates The group agreed the following future meeting dates: 20 May 2008 (venue in County Durham TBA) 16 September 2008 (venue in Cumbria - TBA) 13 January 2009 (venue in Northumberland TBA) 7