01 Oct The magic formula for seaside towns?
Back in 2021, our director, Diane completed research on attracting businesses and investment to seaside towns for an MSc in Place Management & Leadership focusing on New Brighton, near Liverpool and Folkestone in Kent.
Diane returns to both towns regularly and it’s always good to see that new businesses have opened, events are taking place or changes are happening to the public realm. These visits are observational only though so it was great to get behind the scenes this week to hear more about changes in Folkestone on a Place Collective UK tour hosted by Adrian Lockwood. Adrian introduced Diane to the stakeholders in Folkestone during her research. A man who wears many hats he is a surveyor, managed the Creative Quarter for more than 10 years and project managed the build of the Turner Free School and is now a Folkestone councillor and Leader of the Labour Group.
Key takeaways from the visit
- The Folkestone model can be replicated without a benefactor via funding (HLF might be the best fit) for building acquisition with a plan to grow once the first ones are completed and let.
- Funding needs to be long term with the suggestion that it should be 20 years not three with money being released at regular intervals; that it can’t just be capital as buildings need to be repurposed and financially viable to operate (we’ve been doing a lot of work in this area). This is something all in the group agreed with and that it would remove some of the pressure on local authorities managing complex projects in a compressed timetable.
- Large scale change can’t be a achieved via a quick fix. Folkestone has had more than £100m invested over 20 years by the Roger De Haan Trust (we were lucky to have Roger present to the group) starting with the purchase of 90 buildings which form the Creative Quarter.
- While the old high street and harbour arm have been transformed, the core town centre – home to multiples since departed including M&S, Wilko, Debenhams – has continued to decline over the past 20 years and is impacted by the same issues facing high streets and town centres across the country regardless of them being a coastal town
- Having secured £20m LUF the council took us through their plans for the town centre which included untangling the road network which was constructed to support a route to a now, defunct port; the repurposing of the former Debenhams (Folca) and other strategic acquisitions. They are also creating an activation programme to encourage people back into the town centre to attract them in the build up to the bigger changes which will take a few years.
- In the Creative Quarter, the stipulation is that all businesses have to make something. This might include making, servicing, mending, upcycling to ensure that what is happening has some visibility to it. Complimentary to this offer is that there are now more than 70 pieces of art on public display as a result of the Art Triennial (next one 2025)
Arrange a chat about seaside towns
More recently we have worked with seaside towns on the Lancashire coast – Blackpool, Cleveleys and Morecombe – in Ramsgate, Kent and North Wales.
Get in touch if you’d like to have a conversation about your seaside town or our research.
[image: St Annes on the Sea, Lancashire]
About the research
While there is a wealth of material on the tourism industry and UK coastal towns in particular, there is very little focusing on the non-tourism economy and specifically on how towns can adapt to attract investment, support businesses and harness the power of entrepreneurs.
Seaside towns have their (well documented) problems but it’s become too easy to talk them down. Tourism is still significant be it day trippers, weekend, event-led or business tourism but tourism alone won’t create a resilient year-round town
Objectives
- understand which coastal towns are successful in attracting investment and encouraging start-ups and why
- explore entrepreneur-led regeneration and its impact on stakeholder management/ relationships in coastal towns
- understand the contributing factors that lead businesses to locate in coastal towns
- identify the barriers that prevent coastal towns from diversifying and the success factors in attracting investment
The seaside towns/areas receiving positive press are often Margate, North Norfolk, Folkestone however, they have little in common and it’s not a one size fits all approach. There are other places doing good things / achieving success quietly and creating change
Headline finding
- More employment-led businesses beyond micro businesses and makers.
- A strong place brand
- Housing at the right price point
- Newcomers bring ideas that create change but this can’t be to the exclusion of existing residents / people already there
- Hotel and accommodation in greater numbers to develop business tourism and events
- Entrepreneurs / those with ideas need support – this isn’t always money
- Decide on a model – production vs consumption – as to how the town will develop.
Get in touch if you’d like to know more about the research