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Scarborough wins Enterprising Award
Yes it’s
official; Scarborough is the most enterprising place in the whole
of the UK. At an awards ceremony held at 11 Downing Street on
the evening of Thursday 16 October, Scarborough was named as the
nation’s most enterprising place in the Enterprising Britain
competition. Scarborough, as the representative for the
Yorkshire and the Humber region, was the best of the 12 entrants
that represented every region in the UK.
Enterprising Britain 2008 is
a nationwide competition run by Make Your Mark on behalf of the
Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR),
and in partnership with Yorkshire Forward. Now in its fourth
year, the competition celebrates and rewards the most enterprising
areas in the UK; those places of enterprise excellence that have
helped transform the social and economic fortunes of their area and
are the best at improving economic prospects and encouraging
enterprise in their regions.
The Scarborough Renaissance
Partnership submitted an entry for the competition in April 2008,
and the town became regional winners in May, beating off stiff
competition from other Yorkshire towns and cities including Leeds,
Bradford and Rotherham. The entry was based on how
renaissance and the community have transformed the fortunes of
Scarborough over the past few years through their enterprising
approach.
The Scarborough Renaissance
Partnership comprises of Scarborough Borough Council, local
stakeholders, businesses, representatives from the local community
and Yorkshire Forward.
In June of this year,
national judges visited Scarborough and were taken on a tour of the
town by the Enterprising Britain team led by John Burroughs from
Scarborough Borough Council’s Regeneration team. The judges
were led by James Murray Wells, an internet entrepreneur, and they
visited a range of projects and met with some of Scarborough’s
enterprising people. These included Doug Kendall who led the
team who delivered the major renaissance projects with Alex
Richards and Chris Bourne. Yorkshire Forward and the European
Regional Development Fund principally funded the projects.
The judges also met some of
the new tenants of Woodend Creative Workspace, Colin Charles and
Martin Whelan from the Residents and Friends of Trafalgar Square
and Jayne Watt from the Waterfront Café at Scarborough harbour.
Cllr Tom Fox, Leader of
Scarborough Borough Council said:
“I am still picking myself
up off the floor after the announcement. It’s an amazing
achievement and it really is a tribute to the way that people from
all sectors of the community have pulled together over the past few
years to transform Scarborough. I’d like to thank everyone
who was involved in Scarborough’s entry into the competition, with
special thanks to John Burroughs and other key members of the team,
including Adrian Riley, Andrew Clay, Nick Taylor and David
Archer.”
“It is even more pleasing
that we have achieved this despite the nationally recognised
economic problems that many coastal towns experience. The
award has recognised Scarborough’s ‘best practice’ in terms of
renaissance, and comes on the back of enterprise and new
business. We see it as a real boost to the coastal sector and
believe that this is a model that could be adopted by other
towns.”
Tony Peers, Chairman of the
Scarborough Renaissance Partnership added:
“Like Tom, I can hardly
believe this. It makes me really proud, not just for the
Renaissance Partnership, but also for the whole town. The
judges were really impressed with what has happened in Scarborough
and how the community has embraced renaissance and
enterprise. Being national winners is something that we can
really make something of over the next year, and this has given us
the impetus to become even more enterprising, as we are determined
to be the best and set the standards for enterprise.”
Alex McWhirter, Assistant
Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward adds;
“We are absolutely delighted
with the result and well done Scarborough. To win
Enterprising Britain is a superb achievement and a fitting accolade
for a town that combines fantastic entrepreneurial spirit and
behaviour with successful renaissance and regeneration to create a
brilliant place in Yorkshire and Humber that is home to some
excellent business start ups. The project is a real exemplar
of renaissance and regeneration and something that we believe could
be replicated in other coastal towns across the country.”
Peter Jones, BBC TV Dragon and national
Enterprising Britain judge, said:
“Scarborough is a town with enterprise
in its blood. The Waking Sleeping Beauty name is very apt:
this is a town that has learnt to tap into its latent
entrepreneurial talent and harness it with tremendous
results. Scarborough’s story is really compelling and the
visible impact of renaissance clear – the creation and growth of a
thriving creative and digital industry where one previously did
not, and could not have, existed is a huge achievement. This
sector now accounts for 19% of Scarborough’s economy having taken
over from tourism. Its success deserves to be
celebrated.”
Pictured on the right is Councillor Derek Bastiman,
Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Strategic Planning and Community
Development with Peter Jones, of the BBC's Dragon's Den
programme.