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03
Jul
Knaresborough land train just needs new sources of funding, consultant says
Knaresborough’s proposed land train could – and should – finally go ahead, so long as new funding sources can be found, according to the consultant hired to examine connectivity in the town.
Ben Carey of Carey Tourism, the firm paid £20,000 to produce a 17-page report called Connecting Knaresborough, told a meeting of Knaresborough and District Chamber last night:
The land train trial simply depends on funding. You have the business case – now you just need to find the right funding pots.
When one chamber member suggested applying for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Mr Carey advised them to get other sources of money in place first. He said:
The Heritage Lottery Fund like supporting winners, because they like to be associated with winning. So, if you can show that you’re not starting from scratch and that you’ve already got local backing, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting some money out of them.
Last September, North Yorkshire councillors approved spending £15,000 on a feasibility study for the land train scheme, which is intended to improve connectivity between the Knaresborough’s elevated town centre and the riverside.
But that funding had to be spent by the end of March, and delays getting the trial up and running meant that all the money – except £550 spent on advice from a land train owner – ended up having to be handed back to the council.
One reason why the land train trial hit the buffers was a delay in securing the correct permit to carry passengers. Mr Carey tactfully characterised the episode as a “misunderstanding”, but Cllr Matt Walker, the Liberal Democrat representing the Knaresborough West division on North Yorkshire Council, was more robust in his assessment.
He said:
That was due to the ineptitude of the [North Yorkshire Council] highways team, who don’t ever get their finger out and deliver anything. They’ve let Knaresborough down. Again.
Mr Carey, who has a 35-year career in the tourism industry, said he hadn’t always been a fan of the land train idea, but had been converted. He said:
At first I thought it was a little bit naff – like something from a seaside town – but then I looked at the figures and it soon became obvious that it would actually very quickly generate a cash surplus that you could then plough back into the town, to transformational effect.
Continuing the theme of connectivity, Chamber members also discussed smaller-scale changes that could be made to improve Knaresborough’s visitor experience in the interim.
It was agreed that better signage is needed – some signs swivel, others point in the wrong direction, and it’s not immediately apparent where the main attractions are.
Matthew Hare, of Waterside Residents’ Association, said:
It might be a good idea to have a tourist information centre that people can find. At the moment, it’s in the castle, so if you can’t find that, then how do you find out where it is?
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