Scarborough, like many seaside towns, has suffered in recent years from a fall in tourism and the decline of traditional industries such as fishing. The town was depressed and needed a radical approach to move it forward.

In 2002 unemployment was twice the North Yorkshire average and more than a third of residents lived in neighbourhoods rated among the 20 per cent most deprived in the country.

The council and Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, held a community planning weekend in the town and more than 1,000 people came to talk about how Scarborough needed to change. We didn't want it to be simply a council exercise; it was a genuine coming together of the different sectors of the community — businesses, local authorities and voluntary organisations — to look at what needed to be done.

We came up with a list of ideas for how physically to regenerate the town, attract investment and boost its reputation, and secured a mix of funding from European, council and government sources.

Scarborough has a rich heritage and we decided to use creative and cultural industries to improve the economy and turn the town around. We realised that there were a lot of entrepreneurs working from bedrooms, especially in media and IT. So we set up the Creative Industries Centre to give good quality workspace for business start-ups to get going.

We also provide support programmes, creating an environment where people can cluster together and receive business support.

We invested heavily in state-of-the-art broadband and set up free WiFi along the coast. It is one of the most sophisticated networks in the country and it has been a huge selling point in persuading businesses to locate here — we are getting interest from businesses much further afield. Regenerating the business park created a further 2,000 jobs.

It's partly to do with image, sending the message that the town is IT conscious and is also a hook for businesses to invest. The town is geographically quite isolated, so connectivity is important.

We worked with specialist marketeers on how to sell the town as one that is attractive for investors and visitors - we are increasingly pitching Scarborough as a place for extreme watersports and attracting businesses such as surfboard manufacturers.

Our initiatives have been very successful at bringing in business and property investors. Every pound invested by the public sector in the town generates £10 of private sector investment - £200 million has been invested so far. Previously Scarborough suffered from serious seasonal unemployment in the winter months, as high as 50 per cent in some parts of the town.

Thanks to creating jobs in new industries, joblessness shows no significant seasonal change and creative industries now account for 19 per cent of the economy, a higher proportion than tourism.

Our success in making Scarborough a business hub led us to win the Enterprising Britain awards 2008, held at Downing Street in October.

Next month, the International Business Forum 2008 will be held in the town — I take it as a sign of how far we have come.

David Archer is strategic director at Scarborough Borough Council

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