Alison Eardley, Policy Manager

Action for Market Towns – An Overview

Working with market town partnerships,

local authorities and others to support

the vitality and viability of small towns

Supporting our members

AMT will:

• Provide services and advice for market towns

• Facilitate self-help through local networks

• Present an authoritative voice at a national level

• Offer research services through consultancy arm amt-i

Meaning you can:• Stay Informed

We gather the latest news and deliver it to you conveniently by e-bulletin and via our website

• Learn From Others

We help you to solve your key issues by using solutions from our extensive library of good practice

• Save Money

We subsidise our training events so that you can learn new skills

Successful Lottery Bid

£2 million over 5 years part-funded

by the Big Lottery Fund, to help

sustain and revitalise towns

Towns Alive – Programme Elements

• Training - Market Towns Academy

• Policy – Market Towns Knowledge Hub

• Best Practice – Towns 4 Towns Programme

• National Voice – Representing market towns

Knowledge Hub – Collating evidence

The Strategic Information Service will provide

data, knowledge and intelligence to members

in order to help them understand the issues

and make positive changes in their own towns

Knowledge Hub – Strategic Influence

The Market Towns Think Tank will bring

together experts and practitioners to

debate the issues facing market towns

in the medium and long term, and to inform

national, regional and sub-regional policy

Four Campaign Areas

• Community-led Planning

• Prosperous Places

• Housing

• Rural Services

Putting policy into practice

• ‘Policy into Practice’ Papers

• Targeted training

• Online Knowledge Exchange – inc online forums

• News and information bulletins

• Influencing policy before it’s written

• Seizing media opportunities

• Creating a network of market town ‘advocates’

National Convention 200913th – 14th October

Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire Topical workshops;

study tours; key-note speeches

Save up to £140 if you join amt, and

Grass Roots Rates saving up to £110 for independent partnerships & volunteers

A date for your diaries.....

Mike King, Senior Research Consultant

Who we are

• Mike King Senior Research Consultant

• 3 Years Old

• Social Enterprise

• Research and Project Management

What we offer

• Town Centre Services

• Car Parking Studies

• Visitor Perception

• Mystery Shopping

• Signage Audits

• Town Benchmarking

• Focus Groups and Surveys

Current Project

• Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)/ Commission for Rural Communities (CRC)

• Understanding and supporting the resilience of Market Towns

Contacts

Action for Market Towns

Alison Eardley, Policy Manager

Alison.eardley@towns.org.uk

07876 598 957

Anna McGowan, Membership Services

01284 756567

Anna.mcgowan@towns.org.uk

www.towns.org.uk

/

amt-i

Mike King, Senior Research Consultant

mike.king@towns.org.uk

07818 068982

Hannah Bowden, Business Development Manager, 07795 146913

Hannah.bowden@towns.org.uk

www.amt-i.co.uk

Chris Wade, Chief Executive

Breakout Sessions – Typologies:One size does not fit all

Groups of towns fall within 8 different clusters, based on the characteristics of those towns, for example:

Uppingham Melton Mowbray/ Oakham

(Cluster 5) (Cluster 2)

Young professionals single occupancy households

Commute 15 miles + older housing

fewer children routine occupations

Sometimes towns in different clusters fall within the same local authority area

Discussion Questions

• In what ways would using this sort of profiling be beneficial to your work?

• How might the typology work be developed so that it can be used to impact on policies within towns/ nationally?

• Do you know how your town is doing economically compared to other similar towns?

• Are you are aware of good practice that you think could be transferred to other towns?

Next Steps

• Forming market town ‘advocates’ network

• Strategy e-bulletin focusing debate – due in April

• ‘Prosperous Places’ online webforum

• Updates on CRC / CLES research