About

Summary 

Kent County Council and Visit Kent carried out a cross-border Interreg IVa ‘Two Seas’ project known as Coastal Actions for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) with partners Westtoer in West Flanders and the Comite Departemental de Tourism in Pas de Calais.

The overarching objectives of the review were to:

• Identify the signs used along the coastline, their ownership and make recommendations for improvement with particular emphasis on a partnership approach between owners.
• Contribute to growth by clearly identifying business development opportunities 

This project involved a review and evaluation of the:

• Signs on the Kent coastal strip to identify ownership, areas of clutter and make recommendations for improvement to enhance the visitor experience.
• Coastal product in Kent, which identified business opportunities along the coastline.

The project researched the basic infrastructure of the coastal area and set out a vision for how the cross border coastal region could be managed more effectively to improve the visitor experience. 

Our Approach 

A comprehensive audit was undertaken of all the relevant signage along the coastal strip of the Districts of Thanet and Dover. For the purpose of the study the coast was divided into Coastal Areas and Visitor Domains that corresponded to the structure of the Visitor Facilities audit also undertaken as part of the Kent Coastal Analysis. 

The signs audited included traffic and pedestrian directional signage, information and interpretation boards and panels, and directive signage. Each sign was mapped and photographed. Data was collected on individual signs and fed into a database. The survey collected information on the location of each sign, its function, graphic clarity and ownership. The Excel database was supplied to the client team to enable each District to undertake further analysis as required.

The Product Development phase of the project involved a policy review, a detailed destination audit, a demand analysis and extensive stakeholder and community consultation. This was to be followed up in a second study which included best practice case studies, detailed business planning and the production of investment prospectus. 

Outcome 

The product development strand of the Kent Coastal Analysis Project detailed the audit of the coastal strip, the policy context assessment, and the initial market demand analysis which shaped our thinking on the development opportunities along the coast. Those ideas were presented as a long list of options that was whittled down to three recommended options that offered the most in terms of the likelihood of success, economic benefit, and, through alternative asset management arrangements for local authorities, public sector savings.

The second phase of the project would take the agreed development options and look in more detail at the costs, market demand, potential returns on investment, planning issues and delivery paths. The next more in-depth study was supported by a Best Practice case study relevant to each of the agreed options.