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A ground-breaking seminar on tourism has started putting together a blueprint to market Kent's 'holiday isle'.
The bold step was hosted by members of the Sheppey Community Development Forum.
More than 50 interested parties, including members of the public, Swale and county councillors, business owners and tourism experts, signed up for a video conference last Tuesday to work out how to promote the Island in 2021 as it recovers from the coronavirus lockdown.
The Forum was put together by Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Academy, to boost the Island’s image and to restore pride in the area to help attract and retain quality professionals.
Delegates were told that the time for talking was over and action was needed.
In the past year the Island has been featured in a number of national newspapers - the latest was a page in the Sunday Times headlined Sheppey Chic about upmarket bed and breakfast beach cabins at Shellness for 'staycationers' - and on TV.
Filmmakers and pop stars like Robbie Williams and Dua Lipa have also been beating a path to the Island to use as a location.
The tourism seminar was to have been held at the Oasis Academy’s theatre in Sheerness but was turned into a virtual conference after the school closed its site to outsiders because of its Covid-19 safety measures.
Among those taking part was Deirdre Wells, the chief executive officer of Visit Kent, who has been in talks with the Forum and Swale council to improve the Island’s image.
She said Swale had 5.1 million visits a year which was worth £237 million to the economy and supported 4,738 jobs.
Jo Treadgold, who manages the Golden Leas Holiday Park at Minster on behalf of Lovat Parks, admitted she had not wanted to move to the Island when she was first offered the job two years ago.
She said: “I had never been here but I judged it from what I had heard from others. But now I am here I don’t want to move. I did it a huge dis-service and now I want to help.”
She said one of the problems had been attracting dedicated staff and had since been in talks with the Academy and Sheppey College.
She said: “Working in hospitality is a phenomenal career. No two days are the same. Many of our top managers started as seasonal staff in their summer holidays and then climbed the career ladder.
“And with Brexit on the horizon and the coronavirus pandemic all around there is more interest than ever in staying in Britain.
“Sheppey is a fantastic destination in its own right but it is also close to other attractions such as Rochester, Canterbury and Whitstable which makes it perfect as a base. We encourage all our owners to go out and explore.”
Afterwards she said: “I found the forum very insightful, not only with the diverse backgrounds, ages and experiences but also with the knowledge and passion that all 54 participants felt throughout the meeting.
“I’m proud so many are working together during what has been a turbulent year for the greater good of Sheppey and looking to remove any stigma and negativity. That is ‘old news’. Now we are all ready to move forward, full steam ahead. Exciting times indeed.”
Fellow holiday park boss Henry Cooper was born and bred on the Island. His family built and managed many of Leysdown’s attractions. Last year the family man bought Elmhurst caravan park at Eastchurch and is in the middle of a £2 million revamp after deciding to put his money where his mouth was.
But he berated past council administrations for failing to realise the Island’s potential and ignoring pleas for investment.
He said: “For years I have watched and thought surely somebody is going to come along and sort things out. But they never have. There are places more run down than ever and Sheerness is one of the most deprived areas in Britain. It needs some love.
“I find it staggering it has taken nearly 20 years for Sheppey to get a brown tourist sign on the M2. There is this feeling that Sheppey has stagnated after decades of neglect. The only safe industry here now is the prison service. There is nothing for kids to aspire to.”
He then took a swipe at councillors for failing to attract a marina developer to the giant Rushenden and Queenborough regeneration scheme.
He said: “I have friends who have 39-ft yachts moored at St Katherine’s Dock in London who would love to come here but they can’t because there are no facilities. I have people who have serious money who would love to develop a place like this. Why have they never been asked?”
He added: “I am organising a meeting between them and the council. I think it is time for action. Why can’t Queenborough have £1 million marina penthouses like they do in Chatham?
“My worst nightmare is driving over the bridge in 20 years’ time and finding nothing has changed.”
Jenny Hurkett, the founder of the Blue Town Heritage Centre and Criterion Theatre, hit out at a lack of coach parking on the Island.
She said: “Last year we had 60 coach parties but the nearest official coach park for Sheppey is in Faversham. How silly is that?”
She called for a paid post like a town centre manager to promote the Island, run a coordinated events diary with website and social media accounts and have an annual budget to produce publications and place adverts.
She said the Criterion Theatre, which attracts coach parties to its music hall shows from all over the county, was now using a marketing company to help spread the word.
There was a suggestion to form a not-for-profit organisation to promote the Island, possibly called the Sheppey Enhancement Association - or SEA for short - which could work hand-in-hand with businesses and Swale council’s own tourist team which already runs the Visit Swale website.
It was also highlighted that there was no Tourist Information Centre (TIC) on the Island.
Cllr Mike Whiting, who is on Swale council and is KCC’s cabinet member for economic development, has been coordinating a campaign for the brown signs. Highways England has called for a TIC.
He said: “We had been hoping to use the council's Gateway building in Sheerness High Street but it is not open seven days a week. We are now in talks with Sheppey FM which has studios on the seafront, next to a car park, which are staffed by volunteers seven days a week.”
The battle to get a brown tourism sign for the Isle of Sheppey on the M2 is now to go to parliament.
After years of frustration, Deirdre Wells, the chief executive of Visit Kent, is to draft a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps spelling out why the Island needs its own dedicated sign to attract passing motorists.
And in a two-pronged attack, Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson has agreed to send the letter and will seek to raise the issue in the House of Commons.
Jenny Hurkett, who has been campaigning for two signs to be installed on the motorway at the Sittingbourne turn-off (junction 5) for nearly two decades, told the Sheppey Community Development Forum conference: “It is so important for people to see what the Island has to offer.
"All we want is parity with towns such as Faversham which has its own brown sign on the A2.
“I have been asking for this for 16 years but at every turn there is a reason why we can’t have them. I do hope this won't be like the movie Groundhog Day.
“In the words of Elvis Presley, we need a little less conversation and a little more action.”
The design for the sign, the first to feature the Isle of Sheppey instead of just Sheerness, was agreed by Highways England earlier this year after many discussions with Visit Kent.
It will feature the Island’s beaches, nature reserves and maritime heritage.
But Highways England is now demanding a Tourist Information Centre and a plan of ‘secondary’ signs across Sheppey.
