Skegness and Spilsby fail to feature in promotional video

A sleekly produced video promoting all that is good about the county has just been unveiled with the aim of ‘showing people what makes Lincolnshire the perfect place to live, work, visit, and invest’.

But as we look to celebrate Lincolnshire Day this Saturday – there’s a major flaw. Much of the video – which cost Lincolnshire County Council £4,750 to produce – concentrates on Lincoln.

Places such as Boston, Horncastle, Spalding, Louth, Market Rasen, Skegness, Sleaford and Spilsby don’t get a mention. Mablethorpe does get a small snapshot with an opening scene of sandcastles on the beach.

It is a glaring oversight and insulting. I find the whole thing bizarre. Skegness is a vibrant seaside resort and one of the fourth or fifth most visited seaside resorts in the country and failing to mention this is bizarre.Coun Dick Edginton, Skegness Town Council

In the 1.42 minute video, produced by Lincoln-based Epix Media, there is no sign of Boston’s famous Stump or the historic Market Place, Skegness’s Jolly Fisherman with the famous motto ‘It’s SO Bracing’ or Spalding’s beautiful Ayscoughfee Hall and Gardens. In fact, many of our pretty towns and villages outside Lincoln seem to have been missed out, while Lincoln appears six times. Other places that feature briefly are Stamford, Caistor, Bassingham, the Wolds and Grantham.

The county council says the video has been designed ‘to give people a flavour of Lincolnshire’s enviable lifestyle, highlighting its good schools, reasonably-priced housing, beautiful landscapes and more’.

A statement read: “It will be used primarily to encourage people to come and work in the county, and will be made available to local employers who wish to incorporate it within their own promotional and recruitment campaigns. It will also help in marketing the county to potential investors and tourists.”

Coun Martin Hill, Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We all know Lincolnshire is a great place to live, with a very attractive way of life.

It is a shame Spilsby was not included, I feel it should have been. Spilsby is dying. There are empty shops and people don’t seem to come into the town.Coun Gill Rymer, Spilsby Town Council

“However, it’s not unusual to meet people from outside the county who know nothing about us, which can be a real issue when you’re trying to recruit people to come and work here. So we decided to create this short video as a way of giving people a quick and memorable taste of our county. In the coming months, we’ll be sharing the clip with as many as people as possible to spread the word about all Lincolnshire has to offer residents, visitors and investors.”

He added: “What we have tried to do is give an overall flavour of what people will find when they come to Lincolnshire. The county has a lot to offer, and we’d have needed a feature-length film to get it all in. But if you try to tell people everything at once, they simply switch off. It’s far better to give them something short that grabs their attention. Once you’ve done that, that’s when you can start to tell them the full Lincolnshire story.”

A public document explains how the video was commissioned by the county council’s Strategic Communications Department after members discussed an approach to place marketing at the May Economic Scrutiny Committee. Members wanted to see ‘good quality content that explained the narrative of Lincolnshire (and greater Lincolnshire) emphasising the quality of life for residents, visitors and investors’.

The fact that a number of prominent Lincolnshire locations do not feature in the video came as a shock to many we spoke to.

Mayor of Skegness Coun Dick Edginton said: “It is a glaring oversight and insulting. I find the whole thing bizarre. Skegness is a vibrant seaside resort and one of the fourth or fifth most visited seaside resorts in the country and failing to mention this is bizarre. If this video is to bring potential investors and tourists into the area it should be promoting the county as a whole. It cannot be hit and miss. It is a bit too one-sided to me. It seems to highlight the fact that our coastal resorts are not included out of sheer neglect from the powers that be.”

Mayor of Spilsby Coun Gill Rymer:

“It is a shame Spilsby was not included, I feel it should have been. Spilsby is dying. There are empty shops and people don’t seem to come into the town. I was asked to open a new pet supply shop the other day and I was really pleased about that as we need more shops to open. But people will come to use the Sainsbury’s store and then go. Even on a Monday when we have the market, there are people until about mid-day and then they don’t spend the time to wander around the town afterwards.”