The Workshops

Day 1 - Weds 1 October

Skipton Town Hall
2:30pm - 4:15pm

(choice of one)

  • Local Food

(facilitated by The Soil Association)
At a time of rising food prices, the opportunities and challenges that exist for local food markets is of particular interest and importance. This workshop will examine the emergence of local food co-operatives, the growing demand for allotments and the opportunities to ‘grow your own’.  Includes a look at ‘Community-supported Agriculture’, The Soil Association programme which supports a self-sustaining localised food and farming system. This session features case study example from Nick Snelgar at Futurefarms, a co-operative in Martin, Hampshire which produces and sells its produce with the parish boundary.

  • Local Retail

(facilitated by Charlotte Foster, Community Retail Advisor with The Plunkett Foundation and John Longden, Director of Pub is the Hub)
With many rural shops and post offices facing closure, what are the options for communities looking to retain or introduce a local shop? Is community-ownership the answer? Are there additional services that can co-exist in the village shop and post office and help improve their viability? What additional social benefits does community-ownership bring?
This workshop will examine these questions and consider the contribution that the rural pub can play in making a positive impact in responding to and supporting the needs of their local communities by using pubs for the co-location of necessary services and articulating their specialist local needs.

Day 2 - Thurs 2 October

Rendezvous Hotel, Skipton
11:15am - 12:15pm
1:15pm - 2:30pm

(choice of two)

  • Local Energy (ruralnet workshop)

(facilitated by Simon Berry Chief Executive of ruralnet|uk and Sam Adams, Rural Community Carbon Network, ruralnet|uk)
Rural communities, climate change and the collective approach….
How are rural communities tackling climate change? And how can communities benefit from open collaboration and knowledge exchange? This session will showcase the diversity of rural community action and will examine the opportunities that exist for communities to learn, inspire and support one another.

1) Smarter working: developing your partnership’s skills

For the Towns Alive programme, Action for Market Towns has developed some exciting new training materials and this workshop will showcase two new products:
Smarter Community Leadership: Helping community leaders as they attempt to transfer their professional skills to the world of community development. Possibly as a trustee or chair, they become exposed to a whole new way of working, with new strategic and political challenges. How do they work with people and partners from a variety of sectors with competing agendas? How do they win their community over to a programme of lasting positive change?
You’ve Been Fired Up: Action for Market Towns launched a pioneering capacity-building concept based on TVs The Apprentice. ‘You’ve been Fired Up’ put 30 delegates through their paces as they fought to plan the restoration of a community building in the Fens. A short film of the event will be followed by an exercise to enable delegates to experience the Apprentice concept first hand!

A workshop which makes a dry subject fun - and will give you lots to think about!

2) What Makes an Effective Partnership

Is your partnership really working? How do you know?
This workshop will use a new Action for Market Towns diagnostic toolkit  to  examine the key things that make an effective partnership and how partnerships can become better at influencing policy and delivering change. Case studies will show how town partnerships have effectively engaged with their wider Local Strategic Partnership, how to link with your town council and how to influence the policy debate with your principal local authority(s). Make sure your partnership isn’t a talking shop!

3) Get healthy – the nine-month programme for a fitter town!

You’ve heard about Healthchecks. Action for Market Towns, through its Towns Alive programme, is developing a healthcheck-lite programme called Healthscan, which is a more efficient way of doing or updating a healthcheck. This workshop will draw on work involving  ACRE and other bodies with contributions from Chris Windridge of Action for Market Towns, Roger Roberts from Cumbria Rural Community Council and, via videolink, Catherine Cochrane from the Tipperary Institute in Ireland, who has been working on the Integrated Area Planning Project in West Ofley. Bridging the work of the town partnership with the Local Strategic Partnership and linking policy  into Local Area Agreements will also be tackled – and there will be discussion of the Community Empowerment White Paper and the need for stronger partnerships. Check out your town’s health in only nine months!

4) Prosperous business, prosperous towns – how healthy business, retail and services lead to vibrant town centres

The role of business in providing local jobs is central to market town sustainability. What approaches  can be employed to promote business activity and the sustainability of services in market towns?
Action for Market Towns will be launching a Policy into Practice Paper on Prosperous Places at the Convention. This workshop will also look at  market town benchmarking and how it can help you measure your town’s business performance. You’ll also discover strategies for promoting the prosperity and sustainability of market towns including: non-retail sector support through business incubator and managed work space provision; retail sector support and social enterprise (AMT’s BASE programme); tourism strategy development (AMTs Better Welcome concept). All of these approaches will be reviewed using market town case studies.

5) Working smartly to deliver cost-effective rural services

Delivering services in market towns and rural areas needs innovative approaches. Frontline service providers from hospital trusts to bus companies have helped the Rural Services Network (RSN) analyse future challenges facing market towns as rural service centres. RSN Associate Tracy Turner will present the findings from their definitive study Sustaining Rural Communities: a call for action.
New research to be commissioned by the Rural Services Network and Action for Market Towns to identify innovation in delivering cost effective rural services will also be introduced.
The workshop will also present a toolkit that Action for Market Towns has helped develop with the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly to explore issues around rural service sustainability and alternative approaches to delivery. The toolkit considers how the opportunity cost of not delivering services can be quantified and presents some innovative approaches to reducing the cost of services in isolated locations. This workshop is being facilitated by Chris Wade, from AMT.

6) New ways of delivering affordable housing

Harrogate and York are achieving over 40 per cent affordable housing in all new housing developments. This workshop will look at how the policy works with a great double-presentation from Jenny Wood from Harrogate Borough Council and Andy Kerr from York City Council. It will also look at affordable housing issues at the city/country interface. Different ways of delivering affordable housing will also be explored, including using Section 106 agreements and the new idea of Community Land Trusts, with the experience of Holsworthy Community Property Trust in Devon – the only market town which so far has a CLT up and running.

7) Making the most of technology

Broadband, the internet and e-mail are transforming the way community and voluntary groups can communicate with their partners and the wider community. The new technologies are called Web 2.0 – and they are a cost effective boost to the work of partnerships. This workshop, hosted by Ruralnet, the rural development charity (in conjunction with their local NetGain Centre in Yorkshire and Humber, Electroville), will be a techno-fair demonstration of a variety of information communication technology (ICT) tools with applications for community and voluntary groups. It will also introduce NetGain, the free support programme for voluntary and community organisations which helps them take a strategic view of the place of ICT in delivering their plans. NetGain is funded by Capacity Builders through their Change Up programme.

8) Car Parking – making it work for your market town.

Car parking problems are common to most market towns, such as lack of parking spaces at peak times or the physical dominance of parked cars in sensitive  locations. Overcoming these problems can initially appear difficult.

Yorkshire Forward commissioned a study of car parking problems and possible solutions in some of its Renaissance Market Towns. This workshop will present the findings of the research which many market towns will find applicable to their own problems. The overall  message is positive: if done properly, managing parking is good  for your town. It can help reduce the dominance of the car while also enhancing, not reducing, access.  Evidence suggests that  better-managed parking can benefit your  town’s economy, not damage it.