Record of SusSET 4th Major Conference
HELD AT Inverurie, Scotland
Thursday 31 August 2006
1. Welcome to Delegates
Alison Cumming, Scottish Regional Coordinator welcomed the delegates from each of the three countries in their own languages. She acknowledged the experiences and knowledge that had been gained from previous trips to the partner countries and highlighted how these trips had led to a better understanding of the people and the issues that they face. She closed by welcoming the delegates to Scotland and invited them to enjoy what Ellon, Inverurie and Stonehaven had to offer.
2. Update and Overview of Project to Date
Dr Nick Brown gave an update on the current situation regarding the project. He referred to the successful cooperation between the towns and how this was helping to progress the themes of the project. He encouraged delegates to make the most of the conference to further advance the theme work.
3. Presentation on Planning for Small Towns (from a National Perspective)
Jim MacKinnon, Chief Planner for the Scottish Executive explained his role in Planning is not only a national but international context.
Mr MacKinnon looked at the diversity of the towns involved in the project, speaking of their influences from history and traditional industries and the need to maintain their identity and character through their evolution whilst acknowledging the role of the cities and city regions. He indicated that 40% of the Scottish population lived in towns with populations up to 20,000 and that the towns where most growth was happening were those that were accessible from a main city, but that not all towns were like this. He stressed that many small towns have had to change because of the decline of traditional industries and the centralisation of services and the effect that this has had on the inhabitants of these settlements. He expressed his disappointment that the planning process for growth of small towns had not always been handled with care and that elements to control things like increasing traffic had, on occasions, been detrimental to the character of the settlements. He stressed the importance of connectivity and the opportunities that were linked to location. He highlighted the importance of retaining a town centre with a good mix of land uses and housing types with a range of employment opportunities and varied retail facilities for the thriving small town.
4. Presentation on Planning for Small Towns (from a local perspective)
Councillor Alison McInnes, Chair of Infrastructure Service Committee for Aberdeenshire Council gave an overview of the structure of Aberdeenshire Council and the area that it serves. She highlighted that small towns were often overlooked by national government, but acknowledged the important part that they play noting the growth of the three Scottish towns participating in the project.
She accepted the role of Aberdeen City Council and highlighted the work being done to foster links and work jointly with the neighbouring authority. She acknowledged the differing challenges faced by the towns within Aberdeenshire and indicated the different interventions set up to deal with issues, but highlighted the consistent approach to developing community capacity in partnership with other organisations. She confirmed the Council’s recognition of the role everyone has in building strong communities.
She spoke about the recently adopted Local Plan and the policies and objectives contained within it, in particularly the move by the Council to seek contributions from developers to help meet the costs of new infrastructure and services required by the development. She acknowledged the need for the development of services to keep pace with the expansion of towns and that the Council were working hard to bridge this gap. She indicated that the Council were now taking a long-term approach to planning based on the capacity of the towns and looking at more sustainable growth.
Councillor McInnes highlighted the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership as one of the most successful ways of supporting towns and outlined the Partnerships concept and its evolution from inception to its current status. She highlighted new governance arrangements and challenges faced in terms of community expectations at the same time acknowledging the strengths of the Towns Partnership work.
She closed by acknowledging the need to learn from our European partners in order that we can find solutions to the problems that we share.
5. Presentation on Town Tourism Strategies and their place in National Tourism
Ian Dunlop, Area Director for Visit Scotland gave an overview of the structure for tourism organisations in Scotland. He explained that Area Tourism Partnerships are developing local strategies to encourage the industry in their areas to grow in a sustainable way. He indicated the importance of tourism as an industry to the Scottish economy and identified the current growth in this sector. Mr Dunlop detailed the key roles of VisitScotland including marketing Scotland as a “must visit, must return” destination, providing a range of information services for visitors and operating a quality assurance scheme to raise levels of quality and service in the industry. He confirmed that a highly focussed and targeted strategy had been embarked upon based on Scotland’s strongest and most marketable characteristics, scenery, long and colourful history and warmth, hospitality and character of our people. He spoke of five categories within the marketing strategy:-
· Active (including golf, mountain biking, walking, fishing and watersports:
· Freedom (including touring, sightseeing wildlife etc.);
· Cities (short city breaks);
· Culture and Heritage (castles, monuments, events, festivals, traditional food and drink); and
· Business (conventions, meetings and exhibitions)
He also spoke of international icons such as tartan, whisky etc. that can be used to create awareness of Scotland, and the use of best examples and uniqueness. He stressed the importance of people, their pride, enthusiasm and passion for their town and how this can raise the level of service for visitors. He also highlighted the effectiveness of partnership working at all levels throughout the sector and that this was vital for a strong sustainable future.
6. Presentation on the Aberdeenshire Towns
Introduction to Aberdeenshire by Keith Newton
Keith gave the delegates an overview of the political system in Scotland and information about Aberdeenshire Council and the area that it serves.
Ellon by Keith Newton, Area Manager
Keith gave the delegates information about Ellon, the important landmarks within the town and surrounding area, the priorities identified for the town and the challenges that it faces to remain sustainable.
Inverurie by Ian Fowell, Area Manager
Ian gave the delegates information about Inverurie, its history, the importance of the town square, the natural environment and the challenges that it faces.
Stonehaven by Willie Munro, Area Manager
Willie gave the delegates information about Stonehaven, its unique characteristics, the importance of tourism for the town, what they see as their priorities and the challenges for the future.
A question and answer session followed.
7. Presentation from each of the Countries on their Themes
A representative from each of the Lead Towns gave a presentation of work undertaken since the last conference in Greece and the current status of the theme work.
8. Summary of findings to date by Project Reviewers
Professor Cliff Hague presented the main findings of their review and posed questions for the theme workshops to consider. He acknowledged the strengths of the project and identified issues that he felt the project needed to address more fully. He discussed the whole town strategy model and closed by suggesting ways to develop and deliver this model.
The Executive Summary of the Reviewer’s report is attached as Appendix E.
9. Conclusion and identification of future Theme Work
Minutes of theme groups meetings are attached as appendices to this minute:-
Planning Conservation and Heritage (Appendix A)
Tourism and Town Identity, Marketing and Promotion (Appendix B)
Engagement and Dialogue Youth (Appendix C)
Building a SusSET model for more sustainable small towns - AppendixE
