I believe the possibility of a direct train service from London to Ulverston has great potential to someone with a bit of flair.
This has just been reported in the Gazette and is still only a possibility.
Those interested in profiting from tourists would do well to think around the possibility of providing a service for holiday makers who could travel direct to us in a few hours without having to change.
This could be families trying to avoid a long journey in a car with kids screaming on the back.
Instead a comfortable ride by train and being met at the station with a hirer car with hotel/self catering accommodation lined up here or just outside Ulverston.
This is what I offered when I ran The Falls self catering cottages and I had a few takers.
Now set yourself the task of reaching possible holiday makers using the internet - web sites, youtube, blogs, Twitter so that they come to Ulverston.
With considerable imagination you can target a possible market. It will be I imagine very 'up market' and hence profitable.
To do this don't think 'Ulverston' but the things you can do within thirty miles and then let your targets discover that they can do this and stay in Ulverston. T use the internet to reach people, you have to imagine what they would be using Google to search for - it won't be Ulverston - they've not even heard of it.
If you're interested in pursuing these ideas seriously - contact me - we could do with a small group who brainstorm ideas to find some that could work!
13 comments:
Please explain why you think tourism is/will be good for Ulverston.
Will do.
Thanks for asking!
hurry up then!!!
Why?
Daytime I try to "Do".
At the moment I'm exploring a new type of wax light for townuse after a spell in Mill Dam planting more bulbs. Then some gardening here in the glorious sunshine.
Morning is my time for writing unless it's a short comment.
You'll have to wait 'til then.
Don't bite your nails too much.
!
We are right to question whether tourism is what we want to encourage.
It would be disastrous for us if the town were at any time taken over by them.
Who wants to live in a town like Bowness or even Ambleside.
We like to walk down the street and go in our shops and meet people we know.
On the other hand a mix is ideal. The type of tourists I brought to Ulverston at The Falls with its seven self catering converted barns loved Ulverston a came repeatedly because Ulverston was not a tourist town.
It has lots of quirky shops like Smith and Harrisons and ginnels like the ones off Lower Brook Street.
The kind of tourist that I want to attract is one that stays in the town and spends a fair bit of money in the town in its great variety of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
One of our problems is that we don't have many top rate hotel/guest houses.
It's a chicken and egg situation: poor web sites for tourists - few tourists looking for accommodation - few people quality hotels in town.
Tourism brings jobs and keeps our town ticking over - its the icing on the cake.
This is not to say that other industries don't need to be encouraged. We need to be at the forefront in every area we can. Thus a wide variety of work is available.
Another important factor is that we need to avoid attracting people to come and live here when our young people can't find accommodation.
For this reason the granting of planning permission for retirement homes at Fairview was a mistake and typical of the uncaring shallow muddled thinking Tory Councillors that we have.
Not an easy issue - may the debate continue!
I find it strange that a retirement village is going to be built on the side of a hill. People find it difficult to walk up Daltongate ,the pavements are narrow ,the road is busy ,it's a bad idea all round. When the snow and ice comes these people are going to be penned in their houses. 40 dwellings on this site means they are going to be small ,I guess a lot will be snapped up as second homes,the developers won't care who they sell them to.Our young people will have to go and live in Barrow.
AR- it isn't a 'retirement village'. I'm afraid that yoiu have let yourself be taken in by Geoff Dellow who doesn't check his facts before he starts oportioning blame. This development is for 40 units providing Extra Care accomodation. Think of them as like a cross between sheltered housing and full on residential care. Residents are as independent as they want to be but have 24 hour nursing care availaible on site. There is a proven shortage of this type of accomodation in Ulverston.
They can't be snapped up as holiday or retirement homes for southerners either. Geoff Dellow is making this up as well. Cumbria County Council will have nomination rights through their adult care services section. The residents will certainly come from Ulverston and Furness.
I'm not sure why Geoff Dellow doesn't want local older persons to benefit from this scheme afterall, he is a local older person.
Sadly I have no faith in undertakings made when granting planning permissions. Planning law is notoriously difficult to enforce. Most intelligent people have learned that there are a large number of people who re-interpret conditions that are laid down in order to favour themselves.
I very much doubt that this accommodation will in fact end up with the people that it is intended.
Thanks for your comments - it's good to have someone who keeps me on my toes.
For my part I shall continue to find out the facts to the best of my ability. Often this is not at all easy and requires a time consuming investigation.
Perhaps others could comment on who they believe to be true.
The main point of my posting is that I am still disturbed by the planning officer's reasoning which leaves the door wide open for developers avoiding providing affordable housing.
I believe developers like Persimmons will use every argument to sail as close to the line of legality in order to make money.
On occasions they step over my line of what is acceptable when they infer information when it is blatantly not true.
What was announced on their boards at Stone Cross a couple of years back is an example when they wanted people to put their names down for plots when none were available.
Not much point arguing with entrenched and foolish view. Who, even southerners, would want to 'retire' into a small chalet like unit designed for very elderly people who need access to round the clock nursing care; when they couldn't get into it anyway because social services nominate who lives there? Your 'I don't believe it anway' stance is akin to putting your fingers in your ears and refusing to listen. The reason the application isn't viable with affordable housing attached is that these aren't homes in the conventional sense and the house is a listed building and the planners are demanding it's extensive renovation.
Why this defeatist attitude?
You're beginning to win me over?
Still don't like you be anonymous - surely you can stand up for yourself instead of sniping from the shadows.
Anonymous ,Didn't the application say it was for over 55's ? thats not very elderly is it ? and it DOES sound like a retirement village . The homes are going to be for sale aren't they ? so how can social services veto who lives there. I bow to your superior knowledge of this site but I remain highly suspicious ,like Geoff.
I'm returning to the original posting to make an important comment - http://geoffdellow.blogspot.com/2010/11/affordable-housing.html
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