The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Great Place Scheme has a focus on supporting our local businesses as they are an essential part of our communities.

The World Heritage Site has been working with businesses and organisations located here since inscription in 2001. This work was  augmented with the Great Place Scheme, which expanded the successful Business Ambassador Scheme into new areas, and created a new Business Support Programme:

The Business Ambassador Scheme was developed with a focus on the market town of Belper. It was so successful that it helped Belper win the Great British High Street Competition in 2014. The Scheme will still run in Belper and the scheme also supported new Ambassadors in other communities across the World Heritage Site such as Darley Abbey, Cromford, Milford and Derby Cathedral Quarter.

The Scheme offered businesses an opportunity to learn more about the heritage of the community that they are located in, along with finding out what there is for visitors to do and had the advantage of meeting other business owners in the area. It gave a great sense of working together to help keep visitors in the area for longer, contributing to the local economy.

Business Support Programme

The business support programme was a communication and advocacy programme to promote the benefits of the World Heritage Site to businesses.

The programme was run in partnership with Visit Peak District and Derbyshire. There were lots of opportunities to network with other businesses. Courses had a marketing and customer focus and were for businesses based within the World Heritage Site.