Steve Barclay is campaigning to promote tourism in Fenland and East Cambridgeshire which will deliver extra jobs.

We have great food produced locally, a host of historic attractions, and even relaxing waterways to attract tourists.  Festivals like the Straw Bear in Whittlesey, the Medieval Festival in Chatteris or the Rose Fair in Wisbech help to attract tourists.  We can do more to encourage holiday makers to come to North East Cambridgeshire when they are faced with a weak pound making holidays expensive abroad.

Steve has held discussions on promoting tourism with Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, and with the editor of the Cambs Times & Wisbech Standard.  Steve is also putting forward ideas for areas where we can do more to promote tourism.

One idea he has raised is to question whether the current use of Wisbech Castle for internal County Council staff training is the best use of this historic site.  Steve has called on the public to put forward their thoughts for how more use could be made of Wisbech Castle.

Wisbech Castle is a jewel in the heart of Wisbech.  It is a historic house and has a wonderful walled garden which are not being used to their full potential.   At the moment the property is owned by the County Council and is used primarily for staff training.  The house also hosts around 9 or so weddings a year which is not a great number.  Could we not carry out staff training somewhere else in Wisbech rather than using a historic tourist attraction?

It would be great if we could open up Wisbech Castle more to residents and tourists rather than the odd day here and there which seems to be the present position.  It might encourage people to come into town to use local shops which are facing a tough time.  There is also an opportunity to build on the good work restoring the Octavia Hill building and, together with other local attractions like Peckover House and Elgood's Brewery, make the most of our tourist potential.

Clearly any proposals need to allow for the fact that Wisbech Castle is a listed building and has planning restrictions, and adapt to the restrictive covenant that applies.  We also need to ensure County Council staff training stays in the town so that staff who work at Wisbech Castle are not adversely affected.  This could even be an opportunity to link into any future re-development of Wisbech Institute as part of a wider discussion of property re-development in the town.  If cathedrals and other historic buildings can evolve and make more use of their attractions, surely we can achieve something here too.

Steve Barclay will be attending the Wisbech Tourism Meeting on 17th August to discuss how we make more use of Wisbech Castle.  If you have any ideas please get in touch. A couple of suggestions so far have including a coffee shop so that people can sit and look out at the beautiful garden in winter and sit outside in summer, and to have a climbing frame at the back of the garden so that young mums can pop in for a break with their toddlers when shopping in town.

Anyone with ideas for Wisbech Castle are asked to email Steve Barclay on necca1@tory.org

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