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Stage 1: Before you start

Stage 1: Background information | Questions to investigate | Choosing a fieldwork location

Background information

Rural rebranding is where a rural place reinvents itself in an attempt to provide for a more prosperous future.

You may well have studied urban regeneration and urban renewal in cities. This section looks at how similar concepts can be applied to places in the countryside.

There are three stages to the rebranding process to consider. Select your stage: (a) Time to rebrand | (b) Rebranding strategies | (c) Managing rural rebranding

(a) Time to rebrand

There are social, economic and environmental problems in most rural places.

Remote villages may suffer from a spiral of decline

• few jobs
• low wages (can young people afford to buy a house?)
• long travel distances to work
• lack of skilled employment
• decline of farming (e.g. falling milk prices)
• few shops and services (e.g. closure of post offices, schools and pubs)
• out-migration by young people and an ageing population

Small seaside villages may suffer from similar issues

• decline of fishing
• seasonality of employment (May-September only)
• lack of high-paid jobs
• lack of skilled employment

Closer to cities, dormitory settlements have different problems

• demand for housing for commuters increases house prices so young people cannot afford to live there
• traffic congestion / air pollution
• closure of local shops as commuters shop in the city
• increased burglaries during the day

In recent years, one response to the problems faced by rural settlements has been to set up flagship projects which aim to change local people's perceptions and to halt or reduce the problems caused by migration, loss of services, farming decline, etc.

(b) Rebranding strategies

Deliberate rebranding strategies fall into the following broad categories.

1. Promoting rural tourism

This may have the simple aim of increasing visitor numbers, or seek to change the visitor profile in some way. Where there is a strong seasonal pattern (particularly in summer), strategies to increase numbers in the 'shoulder' months (spring and autumn) or even year-round may be developed. Other strategies may seek to increase visitor spending, increase the days that visitors stay locally, or attract more high-spending visitors (e.g. business guests to conferences rather than coach tours for the elderly).

Heritage sites, places used for filming television series and areas associated with particular authors can be used as a focus for promoting tourism in places which were previously associated with farming decline.

For example, Holmfirth in the Pennines has been rebranded as Last of the Summer Wine Country. Instead of arriving by car, doing some free sightseeing and then leaving, there are opportunities to take a guided tour, visit the Wrinkled Stocking Tea Room, buy souvenirs, and stay for a few days in local accommodation.

Another example of changing the image of a rural settlement is Hay-on-Wye. As a declining large village in a remote part of east Wales, since the 1970s it has been rebranded as a 'the town of books'. Since 1988, a 10-day literary festival has taken place in the town, with an estimated 80,000 visitors per year.

2. Adding value locally

Instead of increasing visitor numbers as a major aim, this strategy is intended to increase the economic returns from existing activities, mainly farming. Organic farming, food marketed as locally-produced, vegetable box schemes and farmers' markets can add value to agriculture. Rather than use traditional outlets for their products (such as livestock to markets), some farmers have become more entrepreneurial.

There are likely to be many examples in your local area. In the West Midlands, the Ludlow Food Festival, run since the 1990s and now attracting 12,000 visitors has stimulated local producers, such as the nearby Organic Smokehouse. Farmers in the South Shropshire countryside are increasingly marketing their products as desirable because they are locally-produced, organic and well-flavoured.

3. Rural technology

The aim of rebranding through technology is to increase the attractiveness of rural areas to business. Sometimes rural people lack the ICT skills required by businesses, partly because learning facilities are relatively poor when compared to cities.

Many people working in quaternary industries (such as freelance graphic designers) are increasingly footloose. E-mail, broadband, video conferencing, voice over IP and other recent developments mean that they are not tied to living in urban areas, so may well wish to re-locate to rural areas where house prices are lower and the environment is perceived as more desirable.

'Broadplaces' are being developed as rural internet cafes throughout the country. In Somerset, for example, broadplaces are intended to 'provide opportunities for enterprise development and support, help overcome exclusion, skills gaps and barriers and help to develop sustainable tourism and local identity'. The scheme has been running in the county since January 2007.

A wider rebranding project, running since 2001, which includes the spread of technology is Pub is the Hub.

4. Rural diversification in the post-productive countryside

Instead of relying solely on agriculture, diversification introduces new uses for land and buildings. There are many examples throughout the country (e.g. bed and breakfast accommodation, farm visitor attractions, offering balloon flights, holiday cottages and paintballing in woodland). The following two links all show excellent examples of rebranding through diversification but there are many more.

Fordhall Farm - organic farming, farm education and local community development.

Big Sheep - tourist attraction, education and adding value.

(c) Managing rural rebranding

The aim of rebranding strategies is to reduce the problems faced by rural areas.

(i) Economic benefits of rebranding

• new jobs (e.g. tourism, technology development and local management) to replace jobs lost in farming (due to mechanisation)
• increases in the average wage, now that a lower percentage of people are employed, for example, as farmworkers or casual pub staff
• more disposable income for local people, so they can spend more on local shops and servies - leading to a local multiplier effect

(ii) Social benefits of rebranding

• increased access to shops and services
• improvements to local skill levels
• a reduction in the isolation felt by some people
• improved public transport links and frequency

(iii) Environmental benefits of rebranding

• new uses of derelict farm buildings; improves landscape and appearance
• higher wages fund home and garden improvements by local residents
• protection of habitats associated with development of local ecotourism

Not everyone in the local area will be happy with the particular strategies used for rural rebranding nor with the outcomes of the rebranding process. One of the most interesting (but also the hardest to investigate adequately) aspects of rural rebranding is the extent to which it is contested. Here are some reasons to consider for why rural rebranding might be resented by some local people.

• By increasing tourist numbers, there will be an increase in congestion and air pollution, which makes parking and deliveries more difficult.
  
• The services demanded by visitors are not always the same as those required by local residents. Many people will not be willing to pay for the highly marked-up locally food for sale in premium outlets. Essential, but visually undesirable, land-uses (such as livestock markets and repair garages) may be forced to less central locations.
  
• Whose heritage? Many people with hard-won agricultural skills, which have come from many years of college study and working experience, resent their new role as 'performing seals' in rural 'theme parks' such as farm visitor attractions. Tourists who behave insensitively are widely disliked.
  
• Is rebranding an economically sustainable method of improving prosperity or is just window-dressing? Farmers may argue that it would be preferable to tackle agricultural decline at source (e.g. by altering supermarkets' sourcing methods), as this would stop farming skills from dying out and maintain food supplies.

Questions to investigate

There are three stages in investigating rural rebranding

(a) Time to rebrand - why does place X need rebranding?
(b) Rebranding strategies - how can rural places be improved? who is making rebranding happen?
(c) Managing rural rebranding - how successful has rebranding been?

You may be asked questions on any of the three stages.

Choosing a fieldwork location

The main focus of your investigation here is to answer the question "Why does place X need rebranding?" The best investigations will use a wide range of primary and secondary data to establish an accurate profile of a place.

There are social, economic and environmental problems in most rural places. Remote villages may suffer from multiple deprivation (e.g. few well-paid jobs, decline of farming, few services, out-migration by young people), small seaside villages from similar issues (e.g. decline of fishing, seasonality of employment, lack of high-paid jobs), while places close to cities and in scenic areas may have different issues (e.g. commuters or second homes make house prices too high for young people to live there).

A short pilot survey may be useful before you embark on a longer fieldwork investigation. You can use Up My Street to make a quick assessment of the socio-economic profile of the local area.

GO TO NEXT STAGE: Fieldwork