Northumberland County Council

Perceptions of Wansbeck

Public Knowledge were originally commissioned to undertake a small sample of business to business telephone interviews across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham (excluding Wansbeck) to assess perceptions of Wansbeck as a business location in 2005. This research was commissioned again in 2007 following substantial local enterprise growth initiative funding (LEGI) which provided a multi-million monetary resource for business growth and entrepreneurial activity within the Wansbeck district and for a third time in 2010 to further track any shift in opinions of the area. In addition to examining perceptions of the area, the 2007 and 2010 surveys also assessed awareness of the Go Wansbeck advertising campaign.

Public Knowledge designed a 15 minute semi-structured questionnaire and sourced contact data from a reputable supplier in order to conduct the telephone interviews with manufacturing and logistics businesses, out of town retailers and business support agencies.

In total 113 semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2005 and 2007 and 121 were conducted in 2010 with quotas imposed on location in order that the 2007 and 2010 samples remained comparative to the initial sample.

This survey has been important in evaluating the impact that LEGI funding and the work of Go Wansbeck has had on perceptions of Wansbeck as a location for business growth, entrepreneurial activity and regeneration.