The aim of the Northumberland Towns Retail Distinctiveness project was:
“to carry out action research into creating a more distinctive retail experience that will result in an improved contribution by market towns and rural service centres to the wider economic
development agenda.” This specific piece of work being undertaken by the Miller Research team relates to work being undertaken by One NorthEast on Market Towns Retail Distinctiveness, which has been seeking to develop an understanding of what makes a successful market town retail experience and what role “local distinctiveness” plays. Northumberland Strategic Partnership have been strategic partners in the RDA process and now wish to understand if the model is transferable to rural service centres such as Amble, Haltwhistle, Seahouses and Wooler and to develop an action plan that creates a vibrant and viable local retail offer.

The project will ran from October 2006 to March 2007. Below are links to the reports created for Amble:

Amble Survey Report

Amble Action Plan

On the back of this towns working with Miller, NSP, One NorthEast and Northumberland Tourism worked with the communities of the Market Towns to look for suitable projects and ways forward to achieve the goals identified in the above reports. The Destination Management Plan aims to steer the strategies of Amble from 2008-2018, report available below:

Amble Destination Management Plan