The document provides an assessment of the Market Towns Initiative program from 2000-2006. It summarizes that the program included over 250 town partnerships in the UK, as well as some in other countries, that worked on various local projects. While the projects addressed a wide range of topics, including economic development, community building, and infrastructure, the assessment found that the partnerships would have benefited from more clarity of purpose, longer-term support, and less bureaucratic processes. Overall, most partnerships remained active after the initial program period, suggesting that the Market Towns Initiative had a positive impact in empowering local communities, though there was still untapped potential that future programs could aim to realize.

1. An Assessment of the
Market Towns Initiative
Gordon Morris
”The city dweller who passes thorough a country town,
and imagines it sleepy and apathetic is very far from the
truth: it is as watchful as the jungle.”
John Broderick (1927 - )

2. Nothing new!
“Survey should be a continuing process
in the life of a community, a stocktaking
of resources and conditions ... After this
... should come revaluation of current
practices ... in the light of new
techniques, material, and cultural
standards.”
Glaisyer, Brennan, Ritchie, and Sargant-Florence 1946 p286

3. • Scott Report
• Smailes
(academic)
1940s
• Bracey redone
• Settlement
functions
• SERTP, MCTi
• Market Towns
Initiative
All a bit ad hoc

4. The research: a mixed bag
attitudes split between
There is
nothing good
to be had in
the country, or,
if there is, they
will not let you
have it.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
In human
society the
warmth is
mainly at the
bottom.
Noel Counihan, Australian artist,
1986.

5. A Summary – 2000-2006ish
o About 250 town partnerships + 1 in Australia, 1 in
Canada, & 1 in ... Medway Towns!
o Also
18 Beacon Towns (interesting places & work)
8 “One-stop Shop” towns (joint service
provision)
14 “Gateway Stations” (rail/transport-related)
Parish Plans also linked at times/in places

6. What did people do?
• IT projects
• Business Support Fund
• Sports centre feasibility study
• Community Resource centre
• Fire station redevelopment
• Astro turf and sports facilities
• Canal boat project
• Two Youth Café projects
• Restoration of railway station
• Coastal Strip Evaluation
• Creation of Heritage Rail trips
• Credit Union
• Affordable and diverse Housing
• New Outdoor Youth Facility
• Local radio projects
• Village hall improvement
• Urban design framework
leading to leisure and retail
developments
• 16 rented bungalows for the
elderly; 20 shared equity
homes built and occupied
• Door to door car service
• … + many others

7. 3
3
9
4
1
0
1
1
3
0
4
2
3
4
1
2
1
1
10
7
6
5
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Social
Community
Economic
Environment
Services
Cultural
Physical
Project work
Money
Regeneration
Joint working
Influence
Transport
More people
Youth
Jobs
Skills
Time
Topic headings
mentioned by
respondents
as being
addressed and
not addressed
Things that
partnerships
did do and
wanted to
do.
No. of times topics
mentioned

8. A few findings
• Knowledgeable about place and needs, but need clarity re aims,
purposes; need support; get tired; disagree at times; are (mainly)
volunteers so get confused by jargon, bureaucracy, changing names, new
“initiatives”
People
• Pressures to achieve don’t help - community development, long-
term!
• Is needed to recruit, train, keep volunteers
Time!
• Simple, stable yet flexible, supportive, trusting, not risk averse; not
exclusive (Local Authorities & their staff are often key to success)
Structures should be

9. • Inequality is being addressed and ... MTI has proved to be
beneficial - good project manager helps, but ...
• ... Healthcheck and Action Plan flawed – encouraged wish
list - more emphasis on eg training/worklessness – more
realism re expectations.
• Still ... local relationships are good and improving.
• Good relationship with Town/Parish Council needed to
overcome concerns about democratic accountability.
• Partnerships are reviewing Action Plans which are ...
•
• ... valid but depend on RDA approval, and ...
• Steering group not representative. Still it’s a ...
• ... well-conceived approach - should be followed by a
second phase. But it ...
• ... raised expectations and increased cynicism; money
spent on ‘process’/consultants for little benefit; awful
waste. For some ...
• ... “A project too far”; insufficient lateral thinking;
insufficiently inclusive.

10. Most partnerships - still active
Yes
67%
On stand-by
7%
Questionable
4%
Unlikely
7%
No
4% Don't know
11%

11. Some personal observations
• The term, market town,
doesn’t help
– Hardyesque without
poverty
– Somehow “southern”,
privileged
• Programmes want
definitions, but it’s really
about people being helped to
help themselves in their
communities
• MTI & similar provide useful
evidence of form and function
• Even those who were critical
saw achievements as well as
failures
• Still don’t know what our
small (country) towns
can do for us
• Intrigued by my simple
IMD comparison –
deprivation pretty evenly
split north-south
• Parish Plans &
Healthchecks could be
combined for general use
• Partnerships need to be
lightly monitored and the
work evaluated
(longitudinal study)

12. To conclude - 1
• Broadly, it worked – met/exceeded its “targets”
• I only know what I was told – what did the non-
participating partnerships achieve?
• Some frustration – but overall, views about
programme/approach & value to people: positive
• Phasing a problem - Healthchecks & project
implementation should have been sequential
• Different places, different “capacities” – eg were
towns used to SRB, RDP, LEADER etc. advantaged?
• A sense of unexploited potential

13. To conclude - 2
• Local people’s knowledge & time = £s &
wisdom > there is real strength locally
... but we all need to think ...
• Will devolution happen? ... if so ...
• ... will locals take responsibility for failure?
• Will we accept Postcode Lottery problems?
• How will we share experience, monitor &
evaluate, keep it going (people will tire)?

14. Finally, pause for thought ...
“The danger is not that a
particular class is unfit to
govern. Every class is
unfit to govern.” Lord Acton,1834-
1902
But perhaps we should remember
Counihan’s message, that,
In human society the warmth
is mainly at the bottom.