971397rTownClosedSmall Business Research InitiativeInnovate UKDespite all attempts to encourage alternative modes of transport the car remains the most convenient means for most people’s travel. In non-urban and rural areas other transport options are diminishing rapidly with the reduction in subsidies available for public transport and deteriorating surfaces for cycling. The rTown project therefore uses the necessity of car parking as the base from which to reinvigorate High Streets in non-city contexts. In the feasibility stage it is proposed to use the challenge presented by Ross-on-Wye which is according to Cobbett (1821), “an old-fashioned town; but it is very beautifully situated, and if there is little of finery in the appearance of the inhabitants, there is also little of misery. It is a good, plain country town, or settlement of tradesmen, whose business is that of supplying the wants of the cultivators of the soil.” The town rector invented the package tour in 1745, stimulating high profile visits to view and paint the 'picturesque' but the subsequent increased mobility of the population has reduced the importance of the town as a staging point and as a livestock and produce market; and the package tour has moved beyond UK shores resulting in this and other market towns seeing diminished tourist trade. A 2012 study of Ross using the Action for Market Towns methodology indicated a lack of footfall, convenience and key-attractor shops. A Town Plan undertaken in 2010, and refreshed in 2013, indicated (amongst other detail) the need to: 1. Provide additional planning guidance for the local planning authorities; 2. Deal with traffic congestion, signage, traffic routing; 3. Create tourist trail & protect historic buildings and landscape; 4. Take devolved powers from Herefordshire Council for traffic management, parking and public buildings. Phase 1 of rTown will test the feasibility of using incentives linked to parking and town services to increase footfall, in turn encouraging more convenience and key-attractor shops — thus reinvigorating the town. It builds on our existing data to develop new solutions to problems that are common to most High Streets; and from which it will be possible to define unambiguous metrics against which to measure improvement during the Phase 2 implementation. rTown brings together under the project leadership and informatics skills of Melvin Reynolds, AMS Consulting; globally recognised expertise on parking matters (Ian Betts, Parking Data & Research International); a versatile incentive technology (Chris Reed, MontBeau Ltd (VoucherPoint)) and other skills. The Town Council Policy & Management Committee and the Association of Ross Traders Executive have both given unanimous backing. As part of current asset transfers associated with (4, above) the Ross-on-Wye Town Council will establish at least one Community Interest Company or similar legal vehicle. On completion of Phase 1 the IPR attributable to rTown will be vested with the most appropriate of those CICs and made available for use by other ‘High Street interests’. The IPR owned and developed by the contractors to the project will remain theirs to commercialise further as they wish.