Case Study: Botley, Hampshire

Botley is a small living and working Market Town sited in Southern Hampshire, on the fringes of Southampton, and is easily accessible from the M27, SW Trains and Southampton airport.

There is a large potential visitor base that could be generating increased economic benefit for the local businesses, however very few people are aware of Botley’s offer and therefore it is overlooked.

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Need for the project

Botley has a good selection of businesses but more needs to be done to increase the profile of the area and ensure extended stays. The people and businesses were keen to take on an initiative but needed the all important helping hand to get the ball rolling.

The area has a good deal to offer the visitor, however the basic necessities that attract, inform and interpret are lacking. Botley does not get it’s fair share of visitors, and as such local businesses whilst not struggling, could be garnering greater benefit. Tourism is no longer under local authority remit which also presents a challenge.

The project aimed to develop a framework for tourism in Botley by adding value to and increasing ease of usage of what already exists, rather then creating anything new. By addressing the key subject of information provision it hoped to attract more visitors by making them aware of what is available in the Botley area, and to provide better information infrastructure once they arrive.

Planning the Project

Botley undertook the Countryside Agency’s Market Town’s Healthcheck in 2005. One of the major themes that returned form the consultation was that although the local economy is perceived as strong more needs to be done to safeguard the future vibrancy of the town and area.
In order to take projects forward a local partnership was formed, comprising representatives from; Botley Parish Council, Botley Traders, All Saints Church, Botley Choral Society, local residents, and Eastleigh Borough Council.

In the summer of 2005, Hidden Britain attended a meeting of the Botley Market Towns Partnership to explain how they could assist in achieving the tourism objectives of the Healthcheck.

Research was gathered using visitor surveys, community workshops, tourism stakeholder meetings and business questionnaires. From this base data the Botley Market Towns Partnership developed an action plan of tourism projects. With the advice and support of the Project Development Officer from Hidden Britain, the partnership was able to turn this action plan into achievable objectives by securing funding.
In July of 2006 Defra kindly agreed a grant of £17000 to Botley Parish Council for undertaking the project.

After receiving the funding, the partnership employed Walking Distance (Maps) Ltd, to deliver the tourism projects in conjunction with the partnership.

Project Outputs :

Create a new brand and logo for Botley.

Provide maps of the town installed at key locations, indicating the location of local businesses, food and drink providers, accommodations and attractions.

Create a Botley “in and around” leaflet that will illustrate the facilities and services available both within the town, and in the surrounding area.

Design and construct a new visitor and community site at www.botley.com

Implementing the Project

In order to proceed with the project meetings were held to discuss and develop the new Botley logo, as all other elements would use this as the design starting point. The partnership undertook several branding exercises in order to come up with the final chosen design. The Market Hall was decided upon as the main icon due to the prominence of the building within Botley. The Hamble River is also shown as being important symbol of Botley. The new logos will be used by organisations in Botley to promote cohesiveness for the new branding.

The partnership then worked with Walking Distance to develop briefs for the design and content of the leaflet and maps. Local volunteers helped to source content, provided information, contributed illustrative material, tested walks, proof read copy, and took editorial decisions.

The group also worked with the web designer to determine the format and navigation of the www.botley.com website. In tandem with the development of the visitor side of the website, the community side was also redeveloped, entirely by local volunteers.

The map boards were installed at key points around the town; the main car-parks and the train station, a finger post was also installed in Botley Square providing directional information to visitors once already arrived.

The leaflets are now being distributed widely in order to encourage more visitors to find out more about Botley and its surrounding area.

Local Benefits:

In terms of tourism the project has delivered Botley a cohesive visitor package, which can be used to draw visitor in, inform them when they arrive, and interpret the surroundings in a meaningful way. The benefits from this will in main be to the local businesses by increasing visitor spend, however the community as a whole will profit through the boost this will give to the local economy.

However in delivering this project, a large cross-section of the community has been involved thereby ensuring this is a real community Owned and led project.