10. Tourism

The increasing importance of tourism is recognised in the UDP by having its own chapter. The benefits of tourism are to generate jobs and investment, to use tourism related grants to improve facilities available to visitors and residents, to improve the environment, and to use tourism to boost the image of the Borough. The Public Attitude Survey illustrated the concern residents have over the Borough's image and nearly 20% of the Borough's households believed that the Borough's poor image is one of the most serious problems for the Borough Council to tackle. The Strategic Guidance for South Yorkshire recognises the importance of new sources of employment and considers tourism to be a relatively untapped source of revenue. The Borough Council is keen to capitalise on the historical and cultural heritage, good communiciations and major recreational and retail facilities as well as opportunities for business tourism mentioned in the Strategic Guidance.

The UDP provides the land use framework to encourage the improvement of existing tourist attractions, the development of new ones, the promotion of the Borough as a tourist centre, and to enable the private sector to work closely and fruitfully with the Borough Council and other public bodies to these ends.

The UDP provides the planning framework for the Borough Council's Tourism Strategy. It contains the policies and proposals against which tourism development can be considered.

The Tourism Strategy identifies four broad geographical areas and general tourism related activities which it wishes to promote:

1. the 'Heritage Area' which concentrates on existing attractions such as Conisbrough Castle and Cusworth Hall and Country Park, and their consolidation and enhancement is sought.
2. the 'Activity Area' which centres on the Dome, the Leisure Park and the Racecourse, as a combination of existing attractions and developing ones, and is particularly well related to Doncaster Town Centre and communication networks.
3. 'Doncaster Town Centre' which boasts fine markets and a number of notable churches and civic buildings, together with the museum and art gallery. Many trips to the Borough begin in Doncaster Town at the railway or bus stations and the image it presents and facilities if offers can add to the tourist potential of the area (See Doncaster Town Centre Chapter).
4. the 'Rural Tourism Area' offers a variety of informal and formal recreation based facilities and opportunities particularly in relation to the historic and environmentally attractive landscapes and 'worked out' mineral workings. Agricultural diversification, where appropriate, also offers opportunities for small scale good quality tourism developments. These will be encouraged in so far as they do not conflict with other relevant policies of the UDP. Throughout the Borough there are many fine villages and towns some such as Askern with the potential to build on historical associations, - in Askern's case it's past as a Spa Town. While there are others, for instance Tickhill and Bawtry where the historical, architectural and environmental features are well preserved, offering existing tourism attractions. In the case of Tickhill there is great potential for the use of Tickhill Castle as an educational and tourism resource.

Policy TO1 sets out the sites and areas which act as a focus for tourism opportunities throughout the Borough. The social and economic contribution made by tourism is of great value and the spin-offs from attracting short and long stay visitors to these sites will be felt by the local economy. The regeneration aspects of several of these sites are, similarly, considerable. Economic, social and environmental regeneration can be facilitated by realising the tourism potential of these sites. While the advantages are rightly promoted, in considering potential tourist attractions and developments, the disadvantages of tourism such as traffic congestion must be minimised.

The development of tourism facilities and sites throughout the length of the Don Gorge illustrates this point. The impact of a large tourism proposal on the Don Gorge would be considerable and efforts must be made to both protect the existing land uses and activities in other parts of the Gorge and/or to enhance the opportunities for increased or improved usage as appropriate.

The Borough is characterised by many miles of waterways. The variety of urban, rural and industrial land uses and landscapes passed through by the waterways and the intrinsic character of the waterways themselves offers substantial tourism potential. The waterways historically have played a commercial role in the economy of the Borough and while the potential for this to be enhanced still remains, the emphasis could switch to the formal and informal recreation opportunities they afford.

The provision of recreation moorings and attractions/uses for waterway users is central to realising the tourist potential of the waterways. Developers are encouraged to come forward with proposals for enhanced use of waterways in conjunction with other proposed developments. The increased use of the waterways can have a significant regeneration impact in terms of creating employment, reusing buildings and sites, improving the environment and enhancing recreation opportunities. The maintenance and enhancement of public and pedestrian access to and along the waterways will be sought.

The Borough Council will consider how best to provide a lead and examine the opportunity to produce a Waterway Strategy combining the initiatives and proposals set out in the UDP with other issues. Close working relationships with British Waterways Board and other interested organisations will continue.

The tourist potential of the Borough will be more likely to be achieved if the provision of a range of type, standard and location of hotel accommodation is secured aimed at both business and leisure tourism. The importance of improved accommodation is stressed by the Borough Council's Tourism Strategy and Circular 13/79.

The economic benefit from both short and long stay visitors is well documented and means essentially that visitors staying in the Borough will have the opportunity to spend more money on local services and facilities available in the Borough. The job opportunities to work both directly in hotels and an improved service sector generally should not be overlooked.

Development and facilities of this kind can most readily be located within the built up urban areas. The attractions of Doncaster Town Centre, The Dome and the Leisure Park, and Doncaster Racecourse make Doncaster Town itself an attractive location for hotel and conference development. Hotel accommodation in other urban or built up areas is also appropriate given the considerations of policy TO5.

Development outside the built up urban areas will be considered as an exception. Conversions and extensions, where appropriate, will add to the existing facilities and when they are developed sensitively in line with policies TO4 and TO5, they can be located outside built up urban areas. The Boat Inn at Sprotbrough represents a potential opportunity to provide a field centre for educational or recreational purposes in order to promote public awareness and understanding of local nature conservation issues.

Under policy TO4 (c) the Borough Council recognises the need for overnight accommodation as part of large scale recreation/leisure development outside built up urban areas. The recreation/leisure use(s) must be in accord with other relevant UDP policies in its own right before hotel and conference centre developments under TO4 (c) can be considered. The onus is with the developer to demonstrate that the use will be a visitor attraction of a size and significance which will require associated hotel accommodation. This must be proven and undertaken to the satisfaction of the Borough Council.

The variety of available locations throughout the Borough is reflected in policy TO3. These are able to both maximise the Borough's potential sites and offer a variety of choice to the hotel industry. The opportunities for hotel and conference centre development close to the Borough's motorways and the A1 are recognised and set out in Policy T03. They should be capable of picking up business trade, passing trade and longer term visitors wishing to stay in the Borough. Many are well located close to Doncaster Town Centre while others are near to existing tourist attractions.

Detailed criteria to control the development of hotel and conference facilities will be applied to all proposals. It may be that any one of criteria (a) - (e) from policy TO5 would be sufficient to use as the basis for refusing planning consent judging each application on it's merits. The design, form and scale of development is particularly important outside the built up urban areas and when located in an area of open countryside. Sensitive siting and landscaping would be required to minimise the environmental impact.

The Council's Tourism Strategy identifies marketing and promotion as central to its own activities and the UDP also acknowledges the role other organisations such as the Regional and National Tourist Boards play in encouraging tourism in the Borough.