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Scarborough's success story goes global
THE story of Scarborough's resurgence has spread to the United States.
A brochure documenting the town's progress since 2001 has made its way across the Atlantic, thanks to its success at the International Association for Public Participation's (IAP2) Core Values Awards.
Entitled Scarborough's Renaissance: from vision to delivery, it was written by the town's renaissance chief, Nick Taylor.
Earlier this year, Scarborough's Renaissance project beat competition from 12 candidates from across the globe to clinch the Project of the Year award.
The gong, which recognises public participation, was presented at a ceremony in San Diego, California, in conjunction with the IAP2's annual conference.
Mr Taylor told the Evening News: "I had to fit years of work in to four pages, so it was quite a challenge – it was difficult to decide what to leave out."
The brochure features a timeline of the project, listing key events, including a community planning weekend held in April 2002, work to transform the neglected Wood End building into a creative industries centre in December 2006, and the opening of the redeveloped Rotunda museum in May last year.
Mr Taylor writes: "The work started in 2002 with the status of Renaissance Town being granted by the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward. Their criteria for selection was for a town to be failing in many ways such as poor business performance, low educational achievements, unemployment, low wages and challenging health levels. Scarborough had all of these yet still had a core of effective and visionary inhabitants who knew the place could do much better.
"The agreement was if the public could be involved in the decision- making process, informing the design and staying involved in the activity then funds for strategic projects to stimulate the economy would be available."
Mr Taylor goes on to highlight some of the town's biggest success stories since the turn of the century, adding: "New high-tech businesses have relocated here, the tourism industry is much more sustainable all year round, the 'brain drain' of our young people has eased, the university is expanding by 25 per cent, the footfall through the town is way ahead of national trends bringing in retail investment. The list goes on."
The IAP2 awards success was Scarborough's second international success in just four months, after the town was named the most enterprising place in Europe at the finals of the European Commission's Enterprising Europe Awards.
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Weather for Scarborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
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