DESIGNER Wayne Hemingway has declared an event in Skipton aimed at attracting younger people to settle in Craven and the dales a great success.

The co-founder of HemingwayDesign and Red or Dead, was at the town hall at an interactive event as part of the lottery-funded Great Place:Lakes and Dales project.

Called ‘This is the Place’ the event saw people discussing ways of celebrating the cultural distinctiveness of Craven and the wider dales and how to persuade younger people and families to put down roots in the area.

Mr Hemingway said:“The area has an incredible 44 per cent fewer 16 to 34 year olds than the national average so it’s vital more is done to safeguard the future economy. The ‘This event was designed to start setting up a ‘placemaking’ project, which will be at the heart of celebrating the cultural distinctiveness of the area and the reasons why younger people might aspire to put down roots here.

“We had a fantastic evening with a packed room of creatives, innovators and pioneers – all bursting with ideas of how culture and young people can be at the heart of planning and shaping the area’s future.”

Cllr Richard Foster, leader of Craven District Council, which is part of the Great Place project, said it was an exciting and interesting event.

“It was good to see so many people come together in Skipton to discuss how we can attract and retain more young people to the dales. There were a lot of young people at this event and it was great to hear what they had to say,” he said.

“We’re very keen to hear the ideas of people to get them involved in staging a major cultural event and persuade younger people to live and work in the area. We have some amazing success stories already and it was inspiring to hear some of their ambitions for the future. We look forward to working with our partners to move this project forward and make a real difference to the future of the Lakes and Dales.”

Programme director Lindsey Hebden said there had been a great deal of enthusiasm. “Momentum is well underway to deliver an impactful, engaging and exciting cultural event of major regional and national significance next autumn. There were some fantastic ideas and interesting opinions put forward.”

Anyone interested in taking part in This is the Place, who couldn’t make the events but still wishes to be involved, can email: greatplace@cravendc.gov.uk