Operational Reviews, Income Generation and Business Resilience Planning
Our work in this area focuses on enhancing the performance of existing visitor sites — reviewing operating processes, deepening audience engagement, and developing sustainable income-generating strategies.
A Challenging Operating Environment
The landscape for visitor sites and tourism businesses has rarely been more demanding. Economic pressures continue to affect visitor demand and squeeze cost bases, while staff recruitment and retention remains an ongoing challenge. We work with clients to build more resilient business and operating models that are better equipped to weather these pressures — and to identify opportunities within them.
Operational Reviews and Business Resilience Plans
We have carried out operational reviews and prepared business resilience plans for a wide range of heritage, visitor and tourism sites, including:
- Chichester District Council — The Novium Museum
- Gladstone’s Library — Gladstone’s Library
- High Peak Borough Council/Staffordshire Moorlands District Council— Pavilion Gardens
- Monmouthshire County Council — Caldicot Castle and Country Park
- Peak District National Park Authority — Visitor centre and bike hire operations
- Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation — Standalone Farm, Letchworth#
- Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council – Saltburn Cliff Tramway
“Planning Solutions Consulting offered a responsive service in the review of Pavilion Gardens, bringing to the project a large range of experience in the visitor attraction marketplace. They advised on current performance and assessed it against best practise, using relevant examples of how performance was increased elsewhere. They made several on site visitors and worked with HPBC on assessing the options for any operational changes which might have complimented the pending construction project. They helped increase HPBC understanding of the asset itself and its place within the wider context of visitor attraction and hospitality.” Paul Hare, Assets Manager High Peak Borough Council/Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
What Sets Us Apart
We’re not a typical consultancy. Through our sister company, Planning Solutions Limited (PSL), we bring 30 years of direct, hands-on experience managing and developing visitor attractions, heritage sites, and tourism businesses.
PSL manages:
- Conkers — a discovery centre set within 120 acres of external grounds, including a covered amphitheatre
- Kent Life Heritage Park — an attraction celebrating rural life across Kent
- Cotswold Country Park and Beach — a seasonal country park and watersports destination
- National Brewery Centre — formerly the Bass Museum (managed by PSL from 2010 to 2022)
- The Royal Esplanade Hotel — a 70 bed hotel on the Isle of Wight
- Burton Bridge Brewery
This hands-on practical experience of running real businesses, managing real teams, and navigating real financial pressures gives us a grounded, practical perspective that most consultancies simply can’t offer. When we advise on operational resilience or income generation, it’s not just theory — it’s informed by what we know works on the ground.
How can we help?
Do you need help to carry out an operational review or would you like Planning Solutions Consulting to work with you to develop an income generation strategy? If you do please don’t hesitate to phone or email Richard Linington on 07866 742628