Market Towns

Chapter 2Market town characteristics

Neil Powe and Trevor Hart

Introduction

Despite the recent interest in market towns and the importance they have assumed within policy, little is known in a systematic manner about their characteristics and the challenges they face. Although recognising that there is ‘no such thing as a stereotypical town’ (Countryside Agency 2004a: 216), current approaches to policy and implementation place great stress on the monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness, and on attempts to identify ‘best practice’ and transferable lessons. None of these tasks are easy – or may be possible – without some understanding of similarities and differences between towns.

Policy in this area contrasts sharply with urban areas, where ...