Following the recent news – and concerns from many in the town – about the decision of the Town Council to ‘opt out’ of the ‘Great West Way’ tourist initiative, and the decision by Wiltshire Council to stop funding ‘Visit Wiltshire’, at Monday’s meeting of the full Town Council there was a discussion regarding visitors to the town, tourism and how to move forwards. The relevance and importance (to the town) if this subject was prompted also by a question from resident Ian Mellor.
Ian, a Town Planner by profession asked the Town Council if they would reconsider the decision to opt out of Great West Way, made in November ’22 – in secret, no record of which was entered in the minutes of that meeting. So a group of essentially non-elected Councillors were making a decision that could affect the livelihoods of many residents, particularly those reliant on tourists and visitors for trade – behind closed doors and not even giving those affected the opportunity to realise what had been done.
Ian – with support from many in the town – considered this a ‘questionable’ idea (not his actual word, he was too polite on Monday evening). Especially as the Town Council website – as he noted – ‘extols the virtue and benefits to the town of being perfectly situated on the Old Bath Road linking London and Bath’. Some conflict or contradiction – somewhere?
Ian also noted that the website also stated that: ‘The Great West Way is a rich and enticing route for visitors to explore. The website also says that Marlborough is a cosmopolitan destination and continues to welcome visitors from all over the world’.
The amount saved was £2,100, per annum although a ‘lower level’ membership would have cost £500. Marlborough is the only town to have pulled out of this initiative since it launched.
As Ian further pointed out – the Town Council said ‘they would rely on the Visit Wiltshire project run by Wiltshire Council and Local Enterprise Board’. But recently – as noted above – Wiltshire Council announced that they were stopping funding ‘Visit Wiltshire’. So how will Marlborough promote itself to the visitors and tourists? Good question…… Well, they could find the place by getting stuck in a traffic jam.
One answer to this ‘problem’ is that Wiltshire Council are developing an app. In the light of criticism about Wiltshire’s decision re. ‘Visit Wiltshire’ Council Leader Cllr Clewer sent a letter to all Councils to reassure that they were doing something. What exactly this entails – uncertain as much is technical detail, but it does mention an ‘Explore Wiltshire app – click here to view and download the letter for more information. Whether this app will have the effect that Visit Wiltshire does – or act as a substitute for the Great West Way initiative as far is Marlborough is concerned – is open to question as both organisations actively promoted Wiltshire and the Great West Way (respectively) to the international and national tourist markets. Will the app do that?
So, in summary, what activities are Marlborough and Wiltshire undertaking to attract the important tourist Pound/Euro/ Dollar/Yuan? On Monday the Town Council didn’t arrive at any proposal, decision or agreement. Even after Ian Mellor’s evocative and illuminating question and then subsequent discussions. The minutes of last Monday’s meeting noted that after discussing the issue of tourism: ‘Members agreed to move on with the agenda ‘.
Manton’s Oddfellows, open again and very much alive
