BISHOP AUCKLAND AREA VISITOR ACCOMMODATION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Executive Summary

Prepared for: Durham County Council Visit County Durham

May 2018

Bishop Auckland Area Visitor Accommodation Development Strategy ______

Lynn Thomason Andrew Keeling Hotel Solutions Hotel Solutions Deleanor House Mill Field House High Street Mill Fields Coleby Bassingham Lincoln Lincoln LN5 0AG LN5 9NP t. 01522 811255 t. 01522 789702 e. [email protected] e. [email protected]

Hotel Solutions May 2018 Bishop Auckland Area Visitor Accommodation Development Strategy ______

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The Purpose of the Strategy

The purpose of the Bishop Auckland Area Visitor Accommodation Development Strategy is to provide a robust, evidence-based assessment of the potential for the future development of visitor accommodation in the Bishop Auckland area, to form the basis for Durham County Council and Visit County Durham intervention to encourage, support and accelerate accommodation development in order to fully capitalise on the opportunities for growth in staying tourism that are presented by The Auckland Project, the planned future development of the Kynren day attraction, and the regeneration of Bishop Auckland Town Centre.

The Basis of the Strategy

The Visitor Accommodation Development Strategy has been formulated on the basis of a robust programme of research that has included a review of the 2012 County Durham Visitor Accommodation Futures report; an audit of the current visitor accommodation supply in the Bishop Auckland area, and past and current visitor accommodation proposals; a face-to-face survey of Bishop Auckland hotel managers; a telephone survey of smaller accommodation businesses – guest houses, B&Bs, inns, self-catering accommodation and touring caravan and camping sites; consultations with relevant officers of the County Council, Visit County Durham, The Auckland Project and Eleven Arches (Kynren); a review of the background studies and consultancy reports that have been prepared for The Auckland Project and the Bishop Auckland Town Centre Masterplan; and discussions with hotel and inn operators to gauge their potential interest in opening new accommodation businesses in Bishop Auckland.

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Visitor Accommodation Development Opportunities

It is evident from our research that the development of Bishop Auckland as a visitor destination, through The Auckland Project, the regeneration of the town centre, and the development of the Kynren day attraction, is going to generate a significant additional requirement for visitor accommodation in the Bishop Auckland area. On the basis of the projected visitor numbers reported for Kynren and The Auckland Project we have estimated a potential requirement for an additional 840-3,000 bedspaces in a wide range of different types of visitor accommodation. The audience research for The Auckland Project shows potential demand for overnight stays from all socio-economic and age groups, suggesting that visitors to Bishop Auckland and Auckland Castle will be looking for a wide range of different types of places to stay, of varying standards, and at different price points. The Kynren day attraction will have strong appeal for the family market, generating opportunities for a range of family-friendly accommodation options. The Kynren day attraction will operate on a seasonal basis between April and October, giving rise to a need for seasonal accommodation to cater for the peaks in demand that it will create. Reflecting some of the other opportunities identified in the Durham Tourism Management Plan, there could also be opportunities for accommodation geared to the needs of walkers, cyclists and other outdoor activity participants, and accommodation that capitalises on the county’s growing reputation for quality food and drink. Our research also shows opportunities to capitalise on the strong and growing demand for holiday lodge and caravan holiday home ownership in County Durham, in terms of the development of holiday lodge parks, holiday resorts and holiday parks.

Our research identified over 30 accommodation development proposals that are in line with these requirements in terms of:

• The Auckland Project’s planned boutique hotel; • The upgrading of the Park Head Hotel and Manor House Hotel; • The upgrading and expansion of some guest houses and B&Bs; • A proposed inn development; • The increasing supply of private rooms and entire homes available through airbnb; • The opening of further holiday cottages; • A number of small holiday lodge development proposals; • The improvement and expansion of touring caravan sites; • Some camping pod developments; • The significant expansion of the Witton Castle Country Park holiday park.

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While these proposals, if progressed, will go some way to meeting the requirements for additional accommodation provision in the Bishop Auckland area, they will not meet all of the requirement that we believe there will be if the visitor number projections for the Kynren day attraction and The Auckland Project are achieved. Further new visitor accommodation will also be needed. Key opportunities to encourage, we suggest are:

• High quality and boutique inns, restaurants with rooms and B&Bs to provide a wider choice of serviced accommodation with a good food and drink offer; • Further hotel provision in Bishop Auckland, most likely in terms of the expansion of existing hotels. We discuss below the potential for a further new hotel in Bishop Auckland, and the public-sector support that is likely to be required to help bring a second new hotel forward. • Luxury holiday cottage complexes with leisure facilities; • Additional accessible accommodation, including accessible serviced accommodation and some Access Exceptional wheelchair accessible self-catering; • Holiday lodge parks or eco lodge parks offering holiday lodges for ownership or rental and central leisure and catering facilities; • Additional touring caravan sites, including potentially luxury touring caravan resorts; • Motorhome stopovers in Bishop Auckland, some of the villages, or at some of the area’s pubs; • Additional provision for camping, including luxury campsites and eco camping; • More glamping sites; • Pop-up glamping hotels to cater for the seasonal peak in demand; • Bunkhouse and hostel accommodation, including boutique and luxury provision, to cater for walking, cycling and outdoor activity groups, and perhaps educational groups in Bishop Auckland.

While Eleven Arches has not, as yet, revealed any plans for on-site visitor accommodation as part of the Kynren day attraction, we believe that there could be scope for on-site themed hotels and other accommodation to be incorporated into the attraction, similar to the accommodation that is available at the Puy du Fou attraction in France, which has four themed hotels and a themed glamping site.

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Our research suggests that it will be challenging to secure a commercially viable second hotel in Bishop Auckland town centre due to the largely seasonal and weekend bias to leisure demand and the lack of strong corporate and contractor demand for hotel accommodation in the town to allow strong year-round occupancy to be achieved. Having said that, two regional hotel/inn companies said that they would be prepared to consider a hotel development opportunity in the town. We would suggest however that public sector financial support is likely to be needed to secure a second hotel if this is seen as a priority to support the regeneration of the town centre.

While we believe that there could be scope for some accommodation developments of scale in the Bishop Auckland area, in terms of holiday lodge parks, holiday parks, holiday resorts and touring caravan and camping sites, we only identified one potential location for a large campsite that a national camping operator is interested in. We did not therefore re-contact any of the national operators of these types of accommodation that we spoke to in 2012 to establish whether they would still be interested in suitable site opportunities in the Bishop Auckland area. We have not reason to think that they would not, given the opening of Kynren and plans for the day attraction; the impact that The Auckland Project will have in terms of attracting visitors to Bishop Auckland; the tourism growth that has taken place in County Durham, the North East and UK more widely over the last 5 years; and the improved availability of finance for accommodation development.

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Capitalising on the Opportunities

In order to capitalise on the identified opportunities, the following interventions by Durham County Council and Visit County Durham are recommended:

• Work to Raise Awareness of the Opportunities and Provide Business Support

In terms of:

o Circulating the report, or a version of it (perhaps re-formatted as a Visitor Accommodation Development Prospectus) to local farmers, land and property owners, property developers, pub and restaurant operators, and other parties that could be interested in visitor accommodation development. o Sharing the report with The Auckland Project and Eleven Arches, including perhaps a presentation to them. o A workshop to raise awareness of the accommodation development opportunities that our research has identified, and the currently available financial assistance for rural visitor accommodation development projects. o A workshop for existing accommodation business operators to raise awareness of The Auckland Project, Kynren day attraction, and regeneration plans for Bishop Auckland town centre. o Follow up business advisory visits for people that are looking at progressing accommodation schemes. o Investigating sources of funding to support farmers and land and property owners in working up accommodation development schemes and pre-planning feasibilities, not just assistance towards eventual capital costs; o Circulating the report to relevant County Council officers (Planning Policy, Development Management) and the RDPE Growth Programme Rural Tourism Infrastructure and North Pennines Dales LEADER programme managers.

• Sourcing Additional Funding to Support Accommodation Development

In order to accelerate the development of new visitor accommodation that is going to be needed.

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• Informing the Bishop Auckland Town Centre Masterplan

In terms of:

o Identifying potential opportunities for pub accommodation, restaurants with rooms and B&Bs to open in the town centre, particularly in terms of upper-floor uses around the Market Place, and the scope potentially for a motorhome stopover in the town centre, perhaps in a suitable car park; o Inviting the two regional hotel/inn companies that have expressed interest in potential hotel development opportunities in Bishop Auckland to view the proposed hotel site and discuss their interest in developing a hotel in the town. o Considering the need and potential for County Council financial support to secure a second hotel, if deemed to be a priority.

• Informing the Bishop Auckland Heritage Action Zone

To assist the HAZ team in identifying opportunities for vacant heritage buildings in the Heritage Action Zone to be re-used for visitor accommodation.

• Supporting Accommodation Development at Kynren

In terms of giving positive consideration to any planning applications that might come forward for accommodation at Kynren, subject to compliance with other relevant planning policies.

• Further Investigating Opportunities for Large-Scale Non-Serviced Accommodation Developments

In terms of undertaking work to identify sites that can potentially achieve planning permission and promoting them to interested accommodation developers.

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• Supporting the Development of Bishop Auckland as a Visitor Destination

Through:

o Continued support for The Auckland Project and Eleven Arches; o The regeneration of Bishop Auckland Town Centre through the implementation of the Masterplan when it is finalised; o Support for the development and marketing of events and festivals in the town o Strongly featuring The Auckland Project and Kynren in the marketing of County Durham as a visitor destination; o Working proactively with The Auckland Project and Eleven Arches on marketing initiatives to attract new markets to the Bishop Auckland area and the rest of County Durham.

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