AMT Public

Our Market Town Policy Advocates are AMT Members who have expressed an interest in becoming more involved in our policy work, and who have proven knowledge and expertise that they can bring to the table.

The Policy Advocates have the opportunity to get involved in a variety of interesting work, ranging from inputting into consultations and developing policy statements.

If you have an interest in playing a greater role in helping our small towns to become more successful, then please contact us to find out more about becoming a Market Town Policy Advocate.

Our Policy Advocates have a wide range of experience on issues affecting small towns at the local level. If you need assistance or support on something, please contact Alison.Eardley@towns.org.uk who can identify which Policy Advocate may be able to provide guidance.

Current Advocates

Our Board Directors are Policy Advocates too.

• Find out more about our Board here

John Everitt – Harborough District Council

Harborough District Council has a large majority of Conservative Councillors and fills all the Executive roles. John’s portfolio was recently created as a response to the recession and is called Local Business and Enterprise. The portfolio plan is currently being revised, and I will be able to send you a copy if that is helpful. I was previously the portfolio holder for Planning.

John is most active in fostering local business activity, in all sectors, including tourism. He brings to this his previous working life, where he built up my own business from nothing (a software housing specialising in financial settlement systems) and in the design of websites. He says he is more than usually IT literate for his age (71), and one of his concerns is its best use in start-up businesses, and broadband connection in remote rural areas to support home working and internet-based small businesses run from home.

• Visit Harborough website: www.harborough.gov.uk

Keith Smith – Chairman, Highworth Community Partnership Group

‘When I am abroad and want to recall a typically English town, I think of Highworth….’
John Betjeman (1960)

Having retired from a very demanding professional career, I was able to find the time to take up the cudgels on behalf of Highworth, a small but historic market town. In 2006 a local parish councillor threw out a challenge to the local community to write a 20 year plan for the town. I joined the group with great enthusiasm, only to find myself as chair. With a mere £5000 in the kitty a group of a dozen or so stalwarts set about the task.

After six months we managed to get a £20k grant from the Market and Coastal Towns initiative and by June 2008 we completed what is a very impressive plan.

On the way, I became more interested in the politics of small communities and how they are poorly represented and to a larger extent neglected by local authorities and central government. This is particularly true of Highworth, which is the sole market town in a very urban unitary authority. I am particularly interested in the new research on rural communities by Professor John Shepherd, which I think will be a vital tool in the armoury of market towns to persuade our political masters of the need for a change of approach.

Laurence Young – Manager, Faversham Enterprise Partnership

Laurence is particularly interested in developing the independent economic and community viability of market towns and smaller communities. He believes market town communities offer a model of sustainable and high-quality lifestyle for the future and that decision-making for market towns sits best with their own town and parish councils. The decision-making and service delivery pendulum needs to radically swing back into the local arena.

He works in Kent as manager of the Faversham Enterprise Partnership, a locally-based not-for-profit company undertaking research and project delivery for the economic benefit of the Faversham area. Laurence previously worked in local government in town centre management and localism development. Before moving to the public sector he worked in the City in the London insurance market.

Helen Pakpahan – Economic Development Officer, High Peak Borough Council

Helen has worked in regeneration since the early 1990s both in an urban and rural context. With a background in training, Helen worked in Moss Side on SRB 1 and European funded regeneration projects in the 1990s, before moving onto advising the voluntary sector in the North West on European funding – increasing the amount of funding the sector accessed from £2m to £12m in her first year. She also wrote the well respected ‘beginners guide to European funding for voluntary and community groups’ and represented the sector at a regional level.

Helen worked for the Peak District National Park Authority running their Millennium Scheme for three years before becoming the Market Towns Officer for Chapel-en-le-Frith in 2002.  Since the MTI funding ceased, she has been employed directly by High Peak Borough Council as an Economic Development Officer, a role which varies from supporting the regeneration of five market towns in the High Peak (Glossop, New Mills, Whaley Bridge, Chapel-en-le-Frith and Buxton), to supporting business growth and retention, as well as working on a range of small and strategic projects, including the regeneration of Pavilion Gardens, Buxton.

Helen has been part of the team that has won five regional Action for Market Town Awards since 2003.

Helen also undertakes a policy role for High Peak in relation to economic development, which not only has resulted in rural funding under the leader scheme being expanded to cover smaller rural market towns in her area, but also responds directly to government think tank on impact on the recession on rural communities.

As a resident of a small market town herself, Helen is keen that the market towns are not stereotyped.

“Some of our towns like Buxton attract literally millions of visitors each year and others act primarily as a service centre for a large rural hinterland, but many of our towns also have a strong manufacturing and service base with growing numbers of small businesses across all sectors.

It is therefore vital that the diversity of rural towns is understood by policy makers so that the challenges they face can be addressed.”

• Visit High Peak Borough Council at: www.highpeak.gov.uk
• Find out more about High Peak as a place to visit at: www.visitpeakdistrict.com

Barnard Castle Vision – Open to change, eager to experiment, respectful of the past, ambitious for the future

Barnard Castle, in Teesdale, is a market town famous for its elegant Georgian and Victorian architecture, medieval castle, riverside walks, specialist shopping and antiques area. The Vision is a 20-year plan for the regeneration and development of Barnard Castle market town. It provides a means of accessing long term funding to transform the town into a leading rural service centre, a heritage destination of regional significance, a hotbed of entrepreneurialism and a preferred location for high value-added manufacturing and knowledge-based business investment.

The Vision will benefit residents, entrepreneurs, workers, investors and visitors to Barnard Castle. Area of particular policy interest include Economic Development, Community Led Planning, Rural Services, and broadband availability/ usage.

• Read more about The Vision: www.barnardcastlevision.co.uk
• See general information on Barnard Castle: www.teesdalediscovery.com

National Association of British Market Authorities

The organisation works closely with AMT on a number of areas, and a reciprical membership is currently being offered.

As the country’s leading markets organisation, NABMA has successfully promoted the interests of its local authority members for over 80 years.

• Visit NABMA’s website

South East Rural Towns Partnership

The South East Rural Towns Partnership has been in existence since 2000, building on experience gained from managing Rural Towns: Rural Life, initially via an SRB programme providing grants to towns and developing a network of support for town partnerships.

In April 2004 SEEDA launched a new programme of £7 million to support small rural towns across the region.

The new programme has been developed together with the regional South East Rural Towns Partnership. Local authorities are key members of the South East Rural Towns Partnership and have also played a significant role.

The new programme recognises the vital role that small towns play and this has been reflected in the Regional Economic Strategy which argued for region-wide support.

• Visit the South East Rural Town Partnership’s website (opens in new window)

To find out more about becoming an Advocate, contact Alison.Eardley@towns.org.uk

What next?

• Go to the Strategic Information Service
• Go to the Strategy & Policy homepage