Partnerships – a model for success
Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) has been working collaboratively with Partnerships in St Neots, Ramsey, Huntingdon and St Ives for more than 10 years, with the main aim of ensuring the towns’ vibrancy.
A recent overview and scrutiny review of the Partnerships’ structure concluded that ‘the work of the Partnerships is extremely beneficial to the District, providing good value for money and adding value to the local economy’. As a result HDC has resolved to offer three year funding agreements to each of the four Partnerships in place of the previous annual agreement.
The success of Huntingdonshire’s Partnership model is being noticed nationally too. HDC was recently invited by Simon Quinn, Chief Executive of the Association of Town Centre Management to assist with the delivery of a workshop in a neighbouring region by sharing our best practice with our local authority counterparts. The workshop was part of the sub-region’s planning of a market town strategy.
For further information, please contact Susan Bedlow using the email on the right hand side.
Footfall and Visitor Perception Surveys
These surveys are carried out to enable us to monitor perceptions of our market towns and to compare footfall with other market towns in other areas. In this way we can ensure the vibrancy of these towns and strive to improve them.
For further information, please contact Susan Bedlow using the email on the right hand side.
The Great Digital Debate In Association with Huntingdonshire Business Network (HBN)
At a unique consultation event with Ofcom in October, Huntingdonshire’s businesses and residents called for minimum broadband connection speeds to be available for all – it would seem our voice has been heard!
The ‘Digital Debate’, hosted by Huntingdonshire District Council in association with the Huntingdonshire Business Network, brought the district’s business and resident representatives together with senior representatives of Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industry. At the event Ofcom were informed of the need for government to enforce a minimum universal service provision similar to that currently imposed on BT for the provision of telephone lines across the country.
Lord Carter presented his interim report ‘Digital Britain’ at the end of January in which he proposes just such a universal service commitment in broadband by 2012 with minimum connection speeds, probably of 2Mb/s (megabytes per second). The final report, expected in the summer, will detail proposals for how this commitment could be delivered and identify the all important sources of funding. The options being considered include contributions from private sector, the BBC and the public purse.
HDC’s economic development officer Sue Bedlow said “HDC is delighted to have been able to provide our businesses and residents with the opportunity to have their views heard. That these views would appear to have been taken on board by Lord Carter’s report is very encouraging. HDC’s economic development team are liaising with the East of England Development Agency and other government departments to ensure that our district’s needs continue to be recognised and that we are well placed to take advantage of any opportunities arising from Lord Carter’s report.”
The Digital Britain interim report can be viewed on-line at www.culture.gov.uk.
For further information, please contact Susan Bedlow, using the email on the right hand side.
Make it your Market!
If you have ever fancied running a market stall or even having a small shop, now would be a great time to have a go!
Huntingdonshire District Council is leading on a project with Business Link and the Huntingdon Town Partnership to promote the use of markets across the district.
The ‘Make it your Market’ Programme consists of a combination of advice on how to set up your our market trader business and discounts on market stall pitches in Huntingdon, Ramsey and St Ives.
Anyone interested in starting a market stall business can attend a workshop, completely free of charge. The workshop will cover how to plan, structure, research and set up a market stall business including how to deal with tax, national insurance and VAT. You will also get guidance on how best to display your goods, look after your customers and find additional advice and support for your new business.
Participants in any one of the workshops, which will be held throughout the year, will qualify for two free and two half price pitches at certain markets in Huntingdon, Ramsey and St Ives.
Workshops will take place in Huntingdon on the following dates:
Thursday May 14th 9am-12pm
Wednesday June 17th 6-9pm
Thursday Sept 10th 6-9pm
Friday Oct 2nd 9am-12pm
For more information or to reserve a place at a workshop please contact Sue Bedlow, using the email on the right hand side.
Marketing of the Market Towns
The economic development team is in the process of developing marketing materials with the specific aim of promoting our four market towns to retailers and the agents that they use. The project is intended to raise the profile of our towns and reduce the impact of the current economic downturn on our high streets.
For more information, contact Sue Bedlow, using the email on the right hand side.
Promotion of Farmers’ Markets
The Economic Development team is assisting the Ramsey Town Centre Partnership in its application for funding for a programme of events to help promote Farmers’ Markets across the district.
For more information, contact Sue Bedlow, using the email on the right hand side.
Huntingdonshire Quality Assurance for accommodation providers
From autumn 2008, all accommodation providers who wish to be promoted by Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) must be nationally inspected by VisitBritain or the AA. This is a directive from the National Tourist Board.
Being nationally inspected brings with it huge opportunities to attract new customers from the UK and internationally. The main benefits are:
• Membership of a Destination Management System (DMS) for the East of England which feeds local and national websites.
• The project to transfer all Huntingdonshire’s accommodation providers onto the DMS system is ongoing.
• Locally, accommodation providers will be promoted on new websites called visitcambridgeshire and visithuntingdonshire, both of which are currently in development.
• Both of these websites are being developed by New Vision in consultation with HDC.
• Nationally accommodation providers will be promoted on the visitbritain and east of england websites (see the links on the right hand side).
Helen Donnellan is coordinating the overall project to ensure that as many accommodation providers as possible become nationally inspected and so benefit from inclusion on the Destination Management System. She is also coordinating the development of the two new websites, visithuntingdonshire and visitcambridgeshire, in partnership with other tourism officers in Cambridgeshire.
For further information, please contact Helen Donnellan using the contact email on the right hand side.
Visitor Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS Meeting)
There is a meeting on 21 May 2009 between 10.30 to 12.30 at Hinchingbrooke Country Park in Huntingdon. The meeting has been arranged to discuss the new Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS) and the code of practice, which are both administered by VisitBritain. VisitBritain has advised all local authorities that attractions must sign up to the Code of Practice if they want to be promoted by councils from 2010 onwards.
Normally the cost of signing up to the code of practice is £25 for a 3 year period, but if attractions attend this meeting they will be able to sign up for FREE for 3 years.
Promotion by the council allows attractions to market their business on a number of websites including www.visithuntingdonshire.org; the District Council’s new tourism website which links into the main national tourism websites, so you will be promoted throughout the UK and abroad. In turn this will allow businesses to be promoted on the following websites:
www.visitcambridgeshire.org; www.enjoyengland.com; www.visiteastofengland.com; www.visitengland.com; and www.visitbritain.com
Peter Wass from Visit England who is the manager of the scheme is coming to talk about VAQAS, so everyone is clear about what the introduction of the scheme involves. The definition of an attraction that will need to sign up to the code of practice is:
“A permanently established excursion destination, a primary purpose of which is to allow public access for entertainment, interest of education, rather than being primarily a retail outlet or a venue for sporting, theatrical or film performance. It must be open to the public for published periods of the year and should be capable of attracting day visitors or tourists as well as local residents.”
For more information, please contact Vicky Baddeley, using the email on the right hand side.
Events to be listed on www.cambridgshire.net
At the meeting on 21 May we will also be talking about www.cambridgeshire.net which will soon be linked to www.visithuntingdonshire.org.
This website allows attractions to update details of events as and when they wish, so they are displayed on www.cambridgeshire.net and promoted not only throughout Cambridgeshire, but nationally. To register and add events, go to www.cambridgeshire.net and follow the instructions. From July 2009, any events added on www.cambridgeshire.net will also be displayed on www.visithuntingdonshire.org, so it is important that attractions do register as this website will replace the Huntingdonshire District Council’s What’s On database that we currently use to display events on www.visithuntingdonshire.org.
For more information, please contact Vicky Baddeley, using the email address on the right hand side.
Local Procurement
As part of its drive to promote greater local procurement, Huntingdonshire District Council, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Business Link, hosted an event for over seventy local businesses at which they met some of the region’s key procurement managers
Set against increasing evidence of a downturn and demands for government support for small business, the event provided local businesses with an excellent opportunity, not only to network, but also to have one-to-one meetings with public sector organisations.
In addition to Huntingdon and neighboring District Councils, the likes of the East of England Development Agency, Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, Cambridge County Council, the Police and Fire Service and RAF Alconbury were all available for local businesses to meet.
The businesses in attendance were predominantly from the Huntingdonshire area with most sectors of the business community represented covering both service and manufacturing organisations. In addition to the one to one meetings, local businesses received a MasterClass on how to win public sector contracts which offered practical advice, support and useful tips from an industry expert.
The event was part of the council’s economic development department’s drive to encourage local procurement and ensure Huntingdonshire businesses are made aware of the opportunities available within the public sector. For further information see the “Selling to the Council” section on our Website. Alternatively, email Ben Hooson using the email address on the right hand side.
Ramsey Business Enterprise Centre
A feasibility study is currently being commissioned to determine the viability and suitably of establishing a Business Enterprise Centre in the Ramsey.
As part of a key growth area within the East of England region, Huntingdonshire is - not withstanding the current economic climate - projected to see significant economic and employment growth over the coming years. The intention is to ensure that at the heart of this growth is a strong and sustainable local economy and the encouragement of an innovative and entrepreneurial environment is instrumental to this process. Start up space and support for local businesses, especially in outlying rural areas, has been identified as a key element.
The Council is looking to build upon recent successes like the Creative Exchange Centre in St Neots by investigating the establishment of a similar “business enterprise centre” in Ramsey. The purpose of the Centre will be to encourage and stimulate new and developing enterprises by providing a flexible and supportive business environment.
Ramsey is currently witnessing a number of development opportunities, one being the Northern Gateway development where Tesco has recently been granted planning permission with the remaining site also identified for significant employment and housing. Further capital projects are also being considered both in the centre of town and at the RAF Upwood site.
To progress this subject, we are commissioning a Feasibility Study and this will include recommendations for the type and nature of any facility, potential funding options, the requirement for public sector involvement and, most importantly, a fully costed Business Plan.
For further information, please contact Ben Hooson using the email address on the right hand side.
Slivers-of-Time
Slivers-of-Time is a new initiative that provides an online employment marketplace. It offers organisations the opportunity to respond quickly and efficiently to real operational needs by hiring staff for specific shifts, or at short notice, using a pool of ‘top-up’ workers, recruited and vetted by Anglia Ruskin University’s campus-based recruitment agency, the Employment Bureau.
Slivers-of-Time enables workers to be booked for an hour or less, at just one hour’s notice. This flexibility allows for cost effective recruitment and complete transparency, enabling an organisation to assess the skills, experience and reliability of each worker before hiring them, as well as providing a precise costing for each shift.
To find out more about Slivers-of-Time, please contact Ben Hooson using the contact details on the right hand side.
For further information, please contact Ben Hooson using the email address on the right hand side.
Huntingdonshire’s Creative Network
Do you run your own business within the creative sector or have creative talents and would like too?
Huntingdonshire District Council is in the process of developing Huntingdonshire’s first Creative Network, and would like to hear from anyone who works in the Creative Industries sector. Membership to the network is free and will operate from the Creativexchange, which has recently been shortlisted for two prestigious awards. The Royal Institute British Architects Awards and the Regional Local Authority Building Control Awards.
Creative Industries can be a lonely place running your business single handed often in your own home but now you can take advantage of an alternative communication channel which will bring you into contact with others in the creative industries. The newly formed network will give you the opportunity to meet people and promote your own creative talents and products. It’s also a way of getting advice from fellow professionals and working together or buying from each other.
Networking events will be held at the Creativexchange, in St Neots, with guest speakers from within the sector, specialist advice and training opportunities. Should you require any further information please contact Julie Drummond on 01480 387086.
For further information, please contact Julie Drummond, using the email address on the right hand side.
Junk Modelling ~ creating a piece of art from junk
To involve/invite all Huntingdonshires secondary educational establishments to take part in a junk modelling contest aimed at Yr 10/11. The young people will be working with Dragons Den star Mr Max McMurdo. Max successfully gained the Dragons confidence and secured funding for his creative furniture business Restore. The top designs from each school will get the opportunity to build their protocol with Max and then stage an exhibition at the Creativexchange to the public. It is anticipated the project will launch in the new academic year September 2009 and the exhibition be held during March 2010.
The design brief presented to the young people taking the challenge will demonstrate creativity as being challenging, resourceful, and enterprising; taking into consideration the environment. By being involved it will assist the individuals in developing their transferable skill set whilst increasing their self confidence.
For further information, please contact Julie Drummond using the email address on the right hand side.