Case Study: Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

Dorchester-on-Thames is a small Oxfordshire village rich in history and heritage, and with a very active community. It is a major tourist destination in South Oxfordshire (mainly due to the presence of the Abbey), but most visitors are either local or repeat visitors, stay for a short time and are unaware of what else the village and area offer.

Over the years the village has seen many facilities close and disappear. Several pubs, a café, shops, galleries and antique dealers have closed in recent years, leaving only one small supermarket, and now the Post Office is regarded as under threat.

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Need for the project

Dorchester undertook a Parish Plan in 2003/4. This process of consultation highlighted the usual suspects such as crime, car parking, affordable housing and public transport but also highlighted the need to develop a tourism management plan.

A Destination visitor benchmarking survey was conducted in Summer 2005 by Tourism South East, which highlighted the following key issues affecting Dorchester:

A lack of new first-time visitors
Too many visitors coming by car
Low-spending visitors
Poor visitor information and orientation
Public Toilets need improving

Planning the Project

In order to take the project forward a local partnership was formed, comprising representatives from; DoT parish Council, DoT Parochial Church Council, Abbey Museum, local businesses and local residents. The partnership was supported by Hidden Britain and South Oxfordshire District Council.

Taking its lead from the Parish Plan and survey and put together in consultation with local people and organisations the Dorchester-on-Thames Hidden Britain Project aimed to:

Enhance the visitor experience in and around Dorchester.
Improve access to both information and interpretation
Encourage low-key and sustainable numbers of visitors.

This project therefore was about making the most of what already existed, providing better facilities and information, and adding value to Dorchester’s existing attractions. However the project also intended to benefit Dorchester in other ways, by improving the physical rural heritage, improving access to this heritage, and capacity building for the future.

Research was gathered using community workshops and tourism stakeholder meetings to augment the Parish Plan and survey data. From this base data the Dorchester Hidden Britain group developed an action plan of tourism projects.

With the advice and support of the Project Development Officer from Hidden Britain, the group was able to turn this action plan into achievable objectives by securing funding.
In February of 2006 Defra kindly agreed a grant of £32000 to Dorchester Parish Council for undertaking the project.

Project Outputs :

Improve signage within the village by introducing mapboards and a fingerpost.

Add value to the museum by introducing a touch-screen information point.

Introducing further visitor information by way of an interactive kiosk in Dorchester Abbey.

Scan and digitise the Millennium Album, providing a historical archive of the village.

Create further interpretation of the area through a series of circular self guided walks.

Redevelop the local website at www.dorchesteronthames.co.uk

Implementing the Project

Once funding had been achieved, the group got together to divide up the elements of the project between them. Each element was then developed by a group of volunteers working under direction from the project group.

Many technical elements of the project were being worked on by Brian Oliver, who sadly passed away in October 2006. Whilst this caused a delay to the project, many more volunteers have come on board to the project in order to assist in getting it to completion.

Local volunteers walked and wrote up the routes for the walks, which were then designed and laid out by volunteers.
The Mapboard content was all developed, sourced & proof read by volunteers. The boards were then designed by a local freelance designer.
All work on the website was undertaken by volunteers, as was the development of the application and content for the touch screen and kiosk.
The Millennium Album was professionally scanned, and has been indexed, and the multimedia content developed by volunteers.

Local Benefits:

The project worked hard to deliver real benefits to the village without also bringing negative impacts. As such the project aimed for a low key, and concentred on improving the visitor experience, rather than attracting unsustainable numbers of visitors. Visitors to Dorchester now will find better provision of information and better interpretation. This should lead to longer stays and higher visitor spend, which will directly benefit the front-line businesses and also the village economy in general.

The project has bought many groups together within the villager and engaged many individuals to give up their time for the benefit of Dorchester as a whole. Many of those involved in the project have gained new skills in IT and project management, as well as uncovering many individuals with new skills within the village. This has put the village in a strong position to be able to undertake similar projects in the future.

The delivery and management of the project has been almost completely run locally by volunteers thereby ensure a real community owned and led project that is tailored to the needs and desires fo Dorchester itself.