Make Your Mark Blog

My surname has long determined an association with the sea. Growing up in a small seaside town on the South Devon coast I developed an appreciation of a way of life that is often misunderstood and mocked with equal measure.

However, the coast has very much swept back into vogue of late as waves (sorry for that one) of regeneration and targeted initiaitves have made the prom a magnet once more.

Reliance on traditional industry in any sector has proven to be inadequate in this changing and global economy. The decline of the seaside resort started with the onset of the package holiday and the general discovery of warmer waters elsewhere. Greater competition and a shifting manfacturing base also played thier part. In this spiral, the flight of talent and experience from small towns with big hearts became an alarming regularity.

Today, we heard that Scarborough- once a sleepy victorian refugee for the sunseeker- has been named European Enterprise Award winner 2009. A great achievement. Scarborough’s accolade was gained through that heady mix of local partnership, determination, and bright ideas. Coverting a declining victorian resort into a digital centre for business start-up and entrepreneurship took graft. It also needed some guts to pull people togther and push projects forward.

Scarborough’s renaissance illustrates the strengthes to be gained by recognising the merits of a place- demographic and geographic. Using heritage or challenge as a catlyst for innovation, Scarborough have dispelled the storm clouds of decline- even if the meteological ones will never be conquered.

Coastal towns are all very different places- weird or wonderful, flabby or jazzy, charming or chilling. In a recent EPN podcast we discussed these variations and debated whether being coastal actually gives you and edge. Community is a common thread and an importnant factor in scoping success. Perhaps being on the sandy fringe of England gives a focus and perspective which is valuable if not wholly unique.

Yesterday in London (not coastal, but tidal) a freesheet floated a choice of cool european destinations for a weekend break- Scarborough or Liepzig. As promoters of enterprise and entrepreneurship you can probably guess where we are chartering the Make Your Mark fun bus for the summer hols.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Enterprising Britain, Enterprising places, Local hubs, Regions, Yorkshire and the Humber. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.