We live in a beautiful part of Wales, offering stunning beaches and some of the best visitor attractions, restaurants and pubs in the region, but unfortunately many of our seaside resorts have faced challenges in recent decades.
Many of us will have fond memories of the heyday of seaside resort tourism; happy, family days spent having picnics on the beach, walking along the promenade, eating ice-cream and going on donkey rides on beaches at Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Llandudno, but whilst we may have gotten older and our seaside towns may have changed, they still have a huge unrealised potential to untap.
While visiting Colwyn Bay two weeks ago, the Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies AM, launched a strategy which I believe could give our seaside resorts the boost that they need. The Bay of Colwyn has been undergoing something of a revival in its fortunes in recent years with waterfront improvements, a revamped town centre and investment at Parc Eirias, but there is much more it could achieve with a greater focus from the Welsh Government and the ‘Seaside Strategy’ sets out a plan to do just that.
The Strategy is designed to unlock the unfulfilled potential of Wales’ seaside towns. It is a clear plan to support towns all around our beautiful coastlines and to help bring in tourists and make Wales a more prosperous nation. I know it will be very much welcomed by businesses in Conwy and Denbighshire who have been calling for this kind of support for many years.
It includes measures to help small businesses in seaside towns – extending business rate relief, improving access to business finance, offering local communities an opportunity to bid to protect much loved local assets, and establishing an arm’s length body to replace Visit Wales.
The strategy will also direct Local Authorities to ensure a minimum standard of facilities in tourist areas, such as improving access to public toilets, adequate parking provision, and accessibility for disabled people.
It would also involve a campaign to have more of Wales’ beaches designated with blue flag status, and encourage local communities to introduce local environmental improvement initiatives.
The new arm’s-length tourism promotion body, which would replace Visit Wales, would be required to publish an annual ‘state of play’ report, the findings of which would inspire debate and discussion around future improvements to our cherished seaside towns. It would also be responsible for developing a ‘new visitor strategy’ working with local business and tourism operators to boost ‘staycations’ and other tourism opportunities.
A further aspect of the strategy would involve increasing flood risk awareness among seaside businesses and residents and putting an end to irresponsible development by designating land close to coastlines as 'Blue Belt' land to prevent future residential development.
Such a strategy would be a great compliment to the UK Government’s ‘Coastal Communities Fund’, which is due to start in 2016/17, and ensure that Welsh towns maximise the opportunities this presents. The fund is specifically designed to help seaside towns become year round destinations, supporting our local tourism sector and sustaining jobs.
All of these measures together will give our North Wales resorts the boost they desperately need and have been seeking for years.
Our seasides and coastal towns are amongst the crown jewels in the Welsh tourism offer, it is crucial that they are given the support to enable them thrive once more.