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The Sandwell Tourism Plan

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The Sandwell Tourism Plan APPENDIX A THE SANDWELL TOURISM PLAN 2007 - 2011 APPENDIX A CONTENTS 1. Introduction – Tourism 1.1 Heritage Tourism 2. Sandwell’s Tourism Offer 2.1 Heritage Attractions 2.2 Parks, Open Spaces, Nature & Wildlife Attractions 2.3 Events & Festivals 2.4 Sports Tourism 2.5 Business Tourism 2.6 Shopping/Retail 3. The Visitor Market 3.1 Sandwell 3.2 The Black Country 3.3 The West Midlands 4. The Sandwell Context 5. The Sandwell Tourism Plan – Policy Context 5.1 Sandwell MBC (BCVES Action Plan) 5.2 Sandwell MBC 5.3 Black Country Tourism 5.4 Tourism West Midlands 5.5 Advantage West Midlands 1 APPENDIX A 1. TOURISM – AN INTRODUCTION Tourism is the world’s largest industry and the UK’s sixth largest (ahead of agriculture, financial services and transport). The Tourism Agenda includes accommodation, historic environments, transport and travel, sporting facilities and events, green spaces, the arts and visitor attractions such as museums and galleries. 1.1 Cultural Heritage Tourism Cultural Heritage Tourism is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring and is important for various reasons. It has a positive economic and social impact, it helps preserve our cultural heritage, establishes and reinforces identity and facilitates harmony and understanding amongst people, it supports culture and helps renew tourism. The UK’s heritage is a major contributor to the country’s tourism industry. Cultural Heritage is a primary motivator for Tourism to and within the UK, and it is recognised that most Tourism in the UK is partly motivated by natural or cultural heritage and visitors indulging in heritage related activity. 2. SANDWELL’S TOURISM OFFER Sandwell is a Metropolitan Borough situated at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation. With superb transport links further enabling it to support business activity in adjoining Birmingham and neighbouring boroughs it is ideally placed at the heart of the country’s motorway and rail networks and is relatively close to both international and light plane airports. Sandwell is made up of 6 towns, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich. The Black Country Study identified West Bromwich as one of the four key visitor destinations in the Black Country and although much of the tourism focus is Destination West Bromwich we are committed to maximising visitor potential across all of the towns. Each town has its own unique character, history, traditions and attractions. Oldbury lies at the centre of Sandwell and dates back to the 13th century. Rowley Regis has the Rowley Hills providing walkers with fine views of the surrounding area. Smethwick has a rich industrial heritage and is the town that grew around James Brindley’s canals. Tipton is where James Watt’s first steam engine was housed, Wednesbury’s recent archaeological excavations have helped bring to life aspects of the medieval town’s history and Sandwell’s largest town West Bromwich is home to the Sandwell Priory, a 12th century Benedictine monastery. Sandwell’s heritage is further supported through collections and activities of the Community History & Archive Service. Sandwell has many collections and artefacts from its industrial history including the world collection of Ruskin pottery. The Borough has a very diverse nature and is an area with a strong character, which is reflected in its landscape, its richly diverse communities, through its wealth of historical buildings and sites and in the abundance of pubs and restaurants selling some of the best beer and food in Britain. THEpUBLIC will put a national spotlight on West Bromwich and the borough. The venue itself will have a 300 seat auditorium and be able to serve as a theatre or conference space, enabling us to showcase Sandwell through a variety of creative 2 APPENDIX A industries. This development will further assist to expand and develop West Bromwich and the Sandwell visitor offer. This enables Sandwell to be well placed to develop its heritage and tourism assets for the benefit of local visitors and communities alike. Sandwell has much to offer, including the legacy of a fascinating industrial and pre-industrial past, a unique network of canals and a vast country park with unsurpassed access to the rest of the West Midlands. 2.1 Heritage Attractions Sandwell has a wide range of heritage assets, many of regional, national or international significance. This wealth of diversity provides much potential for new and additional tourism opportunities. Heritage Trails have been developed for West Bromwich, Smethwick and Wednesbury with trails for Rowley, Tipton and Oldbury planned for this year. Sandwell’s Community Cohesion Agenda provides a common vision where the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances are appreciated and positively valued, Sandwell has a wealth of faith buildings to offer the visitor and this sheer wealth of buildings, with both historic and modern features provide much potential for Faith Tourism in the borough, with a Faith Trail planned as a future product. Sandwell is fortunate enough to have many cultural and heritage sites, and important historic sites including the the12th century Manor House, the 12th Century Sandwell Priory, the mediaeval timber framed Tudor Oak House, the 19th Century Haden Hill House, the Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre and Bishop Asbury’s cottage attracting visitors from across the world. Visits to and usage of Sandwell’s Heritage attractions has been growing over recent years with museums and galleries receiving 260,000 visits last year. 2.2 Parks, Open Spaces, Nature & Wildlife Attractions Sandwell has an array of parks and green spaces with 321 green spaces covering 1200 hectares recorded as having unrestricted access. Sandwell has 5 Grade II listed parks of significant historic interest, these include Brunswick Park in Wednesbury, Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich, Victoria Park in Tipton, Warley Woods Park in Bearwood and Great Barr Hall, Great Barr. The Sandwell Valley provides a real taste of the countryside within one mile of the West Bromwich Town Centre and has over 2000 acres of woodland and parkland with wildfowl lakes. The footpaths include part of the Beacon Way, a 25 mile waymarked trail from Sandwell Park Farm to Gentleshaw and several nature tails. The Farm also holds many fairs and events which include Farmhouse Food Fairs featuring a wide variety of food and drink from within the borough from small scale producers and Butterfly Hunts that attract adults and families from both Sandwell and the adjoining boroughs with Sandwell Park Farm and Forge Mill Farm attracting over 655,000 visitors last year. 3 APPENDIX A Sandwell’s unique canal network dates from 1769 and Sandwell is thought to have more miles of canal than anywhere else. Sandwell offers some of the earliest and best examples of industrial canalside architecture such as bridges, aqueducts and industrial buildings. Today Sandwell’s canal network serves the growing industry of leisure and tourism, providing people with the opportunity to explore and enjoy the many miles of waterways that were built to feed the industrial revolution. British Waterways has in place strategies for tourism and interpretation for the Black Country and identify Galton Valley in Smethwick, and Windmill End as key sites for investment. 2.3 Events & Festivals Events in Sandwell are seen as a celebration of culture that attract people from diverse cultural backgrounds and provide opportunities for achieving a sense of community pride and spirit. Events are recognised as a platform for showcasing the borough and raising its profile. Large events such as The Sandwell Show, the St. Georges Day Parade and Family Fun Day, the Historical Vehicle Show, the Bonfire and Firework Festival. Partnership working with community groups and organisations has enabled high profile events the Tipton Carnival and the Smethwick Vaisakhi Festival which attract visitors from both Sandwell and the adjoining boroughs. 2.4 Sports Tourism The Sandwell Leisure Trust manages the 10 Sport and Leisure facilities in the borough providing safe and welcoming places for visitors to go for recreation and physical activity. There are plans for a new Leisure Centre in West Bromwich, which will further assist with the development of West Bromwich as a key visitor destination. As well as providing a wealth of sports related activity Sandwell’s ten Sport & Leisure facilities also host many unique sporting events, with Future Championship Wrestling Events taking place at Haden Hill Leisure Centre and Inter- County Tennis competitions at the Tipton Sports Academy attracting visitors and contestants from outside of the borough. Leisure Centres attracted 6,236,000 visits last year. 2.5 Business Tourism The authority has a wide range of conference and venue facilities throughout the borough used by the community, the authority and for corporate events. These include The Hawthorns West Bromwich Albion Football Club, the Bethel Convention Centre, Junction One M5 Venue, the Conference Suite, the Park Inn and the NMC Venue. A variety of local halls and smaller facilities including Sandwell Valley Country Park, West Bromwich Town Hall are available for community hire and low budget events. Hotel venues include three star hotels, The Park Inn, Premier Travel Inn and the Great Barr Hotel. 4 APPENDIX A 2.6 Shopping/Retail Sandwell’s Premier Town Centre West Bromwich has seen much progress as it develops as the premier, retail, cultural and leisure centre for the borough with thriving markets and shopping centres such as Astle Park bringing well known High Street brands and eating places to the borough. 3. THE VISITOR MARKET 3.1 Sandwell Last year Sandwell attracted 5.5 million visits to the borough. The Black Country Visitor Survey 2006 taken by the Heart of England Tourist Board reveals that the majority of visitors to Sandwell originate in the West Midlands Metropolitan Area (96%).
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