Diamond Jubilee: Chelmsford to become city
Continuing with my upbeat theme this article is a good example of why and how labels matter. Chelsmford which has a population of 160,000 is celebrating its City Status along with Perth in Sctoland and St Asaph in Wales.
I have worked in a number of less successful and positively recognised places and at some stage or other on a number of occasions someone has come up with the idea of a new brand or label.
We have seen in the context of the bias against development in rural places how the application of a label can have a major negative impact on the natural evolution of settlements.
My last point is very important. Whilst basking in some of the reflected excitement arising from the enhancement of the opportunity for Chelteham to promote itself more effectively as being open for business, we might want to reflect on the best way forward for the many small market towns which will never shake off that label and in many cases are toiling to get through economic hard times. And this is not a counsel of despair because there are some great examples of how such places have drawn on their local distinctiveness to carve out a new niche for themselves.