Developing the rural economy
Last week I had a meeting with the Teesdale NFU about their problems following the recent decision of one processor to cut the price paid for milk – although of course no reduction is seen by final consumers! Once again this highlighted the difficulties they face in a world where their economic power is so much less than that of the supermarkets who appear to show no loyalty to British producers in an increasingly competitive international market and where they are bound by tight animal welfare standards and unnecessarily bureaucratic regulation from Defra. I am pressing ministers for a tighter Supermarkets code and to get a grip on The Rural Payments Agency. But we all need to get behind our local farmers and support them by buying good quality local produce wherever possible.
The importance of the farming community to wellbeing in Teesdale cannot be overemphasised. One of the lessons of Foot and Mouth was that their welfare impacts on everyone. Although they account for fewer then 10% of local jobs, they have huge leverage over the local economy. In large part this is because the beautiful landscape we all enjoy is created and sustained by the way it is farmed. The field system and balance of sheep and cattle maintains the local environment as it has been for over 200 years. Rare plants such as the field gentian thrive here precisely because of the interaction of man with nature. It is this landscape which attracts tourists to our area, so any plan for the rural economy needs to give the farmers a central place and be environmentally sensitive.
Over recent months, the pages of the Teesdale Mercury have raged with debate about how tourism locally should be developed. Looking at other market towns which have healthy tourist economy it is notable that they have built on their existing strengths. Aldeborough has the coast and through its ‘Benjamin Britten’ connection a music festival; Ludlow with a castle and good restaurants is now part of the Slow Food Movement; Hay on Wye had a dozen second hand book shops before its annual literary festival. So what are our strengths in Barnard? Castle and Teesdale? First, fantastic countryside; an Area of Outstanding National Beauty and part of the Pennine Way; High Force; Hamsterley Covet; walks by the Greta and Tees and along the old railway line; the Otter Trust. Second, an artistic and historic heritage second to none: Bowes Museum; castles at Raby, Bowes and Barnard Castle itself; New Biggin, Rokeby and within half an hour’s drive, the new Locomotion Museum, the Gaunless, the Zurbaran’s the Bishops Palace, Escomb and Binchester. No reasonable person pausing to reflect on this could think anything other than that we have an amazing wealth of attractions to the area. And what ties them together is an emphasis on the visual – these are things to see and to look at.
This is why I am deeply sceptical about the proposal for a Rope Bridge. First of all it is an environmentally sensitive site. Durham Wildlife Trust point out that the West Bank is ancient woodland and the East Bank replanted woodland. By the riverbank there are bluebells – now one of our native plants threatened by climate change and so vital to protect wherever possible.
The major problem is not the bridge itself, but the infrastructure it would need. The supporters believe a bridge could (and should) attract 150,000 visitors a year to produce the economic benefits which are part of their case. Tourist visitors peak in early and late summer. We all know more people would come on the August bank holiday than a wet Tuesday in February. A car park for 1,000 cars takes 10,000 square meters; for 3,000 cars, 30,000 square meters. A ‘visitor’s centre’ (and restaurant?) is also proposed and obviously to take this traffic a major road widening from Startforth to Lartington would be needed. It is hard to see how the beautiful landscape made famous by the paintings of Cotman and Turner, would be enhanced by pouring over it several tonnes of concrete and tarmac. Would this really encourage the return of visitors now coming to Teesdale and the Bowes?
There must also be a question mark over whether people coming to a Rope Bridge would stay and spend money ‘automatically’. For example, the new Locomotion Museum is excellent, in its first year it has attracted over one hundred thousand visitors, but there has not been a great spin-off benefit in Shildon. We need to ask ourselves why? Similarly, at Hamsterley, on average the 140,000 visitors spend £2 per head. I support the sterling efforts of Hamsterley Trailblazers and the other volunteers to improve visitor facilities and raise their numbers. But these experiences suggest to me that a successful tourism industry needs something other than new attractions. We need to think more deeply.
First we need to invest in relevant skills and small businesses and entrepreneurs. There are some good eating places, some well known like Baillies and The Rose and Crown and others less so Cornforth and Cornforth, but we need more of these and investment in good quality accommodation. As well as investing in training we need a programme to share best practice locally. We also need better transport links: the A66 improvements announced last week will help, as would the success of the Weardale railway. We need simple things like better signage and complex things like broadband to make economic a range small businesses. If there is new money, we need to support what exists already, the YHA at Baldersdale, Meet The Middletons and a worthwhile use for the Yorkshire Bank building, possibly tying in with the Witham redevelopment. Above all we need an approach which is bottom-up; based on shared experience and builds consensus. I would be concerned if people who are unelected and unaccountable were to impose solutions and white elephants on local communities.
Last year I held a one day conference on the place of manufacturing in the local economy in Bishop Auckland. Everyone who attended found it worthwhile. Later this year I shall hold a similar event on the Rural Economy where all the key stakeholders and members of the public can come together to discuss our vision of the future and contribute to it.
In the meantime, if you want to contact me with your ideas, please do not hesitate to get in touch either by writing to me at the House of Commons or via my website.
Article published in the Teesdale Mercury, 7 March 2006
