Sceptical councillors question whether new tourism plan works for South Holland

Art and culture attractions in South Holland will bring in more tourists, councillors have been promised.

Members of South Holland District Council’s Performance Monitoring Panel (PMP) were recently given a short briefing on a forthcoming ‘Destination Management Plan’ which has been compiled for the area.

Destination Lincolnshire has received UK Shared Prosperity money to put together a report for the council last year — and this full report is due to go before another council committee soon.

The two-page Visitor Economy Briefing note presented to PMP did not give any detail on what the plans are for South Holland but it did highlight the culture strategy and heritage strategy which have been worked on by other consultants.

The recent meeting was also told that a wider Lincolnshire plan had also secured external funding.

Chairman Bryan Alcock said: “I think you need to convince some of us that the needs of South Holland are actively catered for.

“I can see this Lincolnshire wide approach is great if you are the Wolds, Skegness or Lincoln.

“We are passionate about South Holland and want to make sure we have exploited as much as we can for South Holland. South Holland has peculiarities that other districts do not but it will be interesting to see if South Holland is catered for.”

He added that the committee wanted to see the fine detail of the report - and hoped that other areas would be included and not just Spalding.

Coun Alcock said: “Other settlements will be looking for a benefit from this and not just a broad approach to South Holland.”

The briefing note to the committee states that Destination Lincolnshire received UK Shared Prosperity Funding for: ‘DMP work - £10,041; photography and videography - £6,605; South Holland Research - £13,367; staff costs - £4,787.”

Coun Michael Booth also said he wanted to know what was going to happen with South Holland.

“Each ward has got a history to it as has been proved in Donington with Flinders when no end of people came.

“I want to see something done for South Holland.”

The Sutton Bridge ward member also called for a timeline of actions for the South Holland plan.

He said: “The time is now. I want to see what this can offer South Holland. It has got to happen.”

The briefing note was presented by assistant director for economic growth Lydia Rusling.

She told councillors “It is really important to look through the work we are doing around culture - that investment in South Holland is going to attract visitors through art and culture attractions.

“The destination management plan is an overarching strategy. The funding ensures the focus will be on South Holland with clear action priorities for this district.”

What do you think? Post a comment below…