Tourism Project Group
Meeting 13
15th September 2016 – 11.00 am
Meeting Room 1.15
Contact and Education Centre, South Queensferry
DRAFT MINUTE
Attendees
SandraMontador-Stewart / Fife Council (Chair)Jim George / North Queensferry City Council
Miles Oglethorpe / Historic Environment Scotland
James Lawson / North Queensferry Heritage Trust
Linn Williamson / FB World Heritage Tourism Business Group
Tim O’Brien / Jodrell Bank
Teresa Anderson / Jodrell Bank
Lin Collis / North Queensferry Community Council
Wendy Liu / City of Edinburgh Council
Scott Lees / Transport Scotland
Manuela Calchini / Visit Scotland
Iain Morrison / Scottish Government
Adele McCabe / Amey
1Introduction and Apologies
Miles Oglethorpe welcomed Teresa and Tim to the meeting of the Tourism Project Group. Apologies were received from: Craig Bowman; Nancy Sidhu, Alastair Mutch, Peter Wilson.
2Previous Minute & Action Points
The minute of the previous meeting (21st July 2016) was approved.
3.Presentation from Tim O’Brian and Teresa Anderson, Jodrell Bank
Jodrell Bank is currently on the World Heritage Site “Tentative” list. The site as a whole attracts in excess of 150,000 visitors each year. Visitor numbers have increased dramatically since the opening of high quality restaurant facilities that are run independently from the rest of the site. Thecentre receives around 54% of repeat visits each year, mainly due to active social media activity which profiles new experiences.
The local community is also important to their success, providing repeat visits to the restaurant and also brining friends and family.
3.Fourth Bridge Tourism Website
The Website is being updatedbut all branding willremain the same and the site will be used as the consumer facing website for marketing and promotion of Forth Bridges Area as a visitor destination. Chris Waite, Amey is leading this work and will be invited to the next meeting to discuss the move to this website
It is planned that WIFI will be available on the viewing platform outside the Transport Scotland and Amey officesfor visitor use and there is also potential fora live panoramic or slow moving CCTV feed of the three bridges on the website in order that website users can see the bridges in different weather conditions and at different times.
Action- Chris Waite to be invited to next meeting.
4.Forth Bridge World Heritage Tourism Business Group
At the last meeting of the group it was agreed that the business model should be a co-operative as it was felt to be more inclusive. If this model is to be successful then more businesses need to get involved andLinn has identified a number of sector leads to encourage others to join.
The group will be experiencing a “Three Bridges Boat Tour” as part of their meeting.
It is intended that the business engagement will take place in Fife in the first instance as the South Queensferry BID ballet will be undertaken shortly. Likelihood is that the ballet will be completed by March 2017.
N&SQueensferry Heritage Project
Sandra outlined proposals for a Heritage Lottery Fund applicationbeing prepared by Maggie Mitchell, submission of the application is due on t 29th November.
Feedback from Forth Bridges Forum
Scott confirmed that the Forth Bridges Forum would fund a Tourism Strategy and that it will need to go through public procurement. Sandra confirmed that Fife Council can lead on this, but the consultancy framework for tourism can be bolstered by any other consultants put forward by the group. Wendy suggested that Marketing Edinburgh would be interested in feeding in to the strategy and that they could be invited to attend a future meeting.
Manuela and Iain to provide Ann with consultancy contacts they have used.
The Forth Bridges Forum gave agreement in principle to a trial farmers and crafts market at the viewing platform and car park and discussions can now be taken forward.
Action– Manuela and Iain to provide Ann with consultancy contacts. Invite to be extended to Marketing Edinburgh to attend afuture meeting.
5. Round Table Updates
- Miles advised that the 3D laser scanning of the Bridge is now complete and that this work would be developed for use in schools.
- Visitor Centre –Network Rail continues to look at funding for the visitor centre but there has been no further update on this. A letter from Fife Council’s Deputy Leader and the Chair of the Fife Economy Partnership has now beensent to Network Rail requesting a meeting to discuss the setting up ofa working group to take this forward and meet with the relevant Minister. No response to this letter has been received to date.
- North Queensferry is seeing increasing numbers of tourists which is causing problems for the residents but is of economic benefit from a businessperspective.
6.Date of Next Meeting–
10thOctober2016 at 10.00am
Item No / Action / Owner / Date Req’d3 / Invite Chris Waite to next meeting. / SMS / 10/11/16
4 / Manuela and Iain to contact Ann with any additional consultancy companies / MC/IM / ASAP
4 / Invite representative from Marketing Edinburgh to future meeting / SMS / 31/01/17
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