Sheringham District Councillors Richard Smith, Brian Hannah, Richard Shepherd and Rhodri Oliver have written an open letter supporting a pedestrianisation trial scheme in Sheringham:
This cross-party letter is in support of further discussion on Sheringham pedestrianisation and highway pilots-based on views of the electorate in Sheringham, noted by all four District Councillors at the last election.
The most recent trial proposed by Sheringham Moving Forward (a combination of representatives from Sheringham Town Council, Sheringham Chamber of Trade and the Upcher Partnership) involves pedestrianising High Street from the town clock to Co-operative Street for six weekends during the July and August holiday period.
Now is the time to start trials with the imminent arrival of Tesco in the town and further exciting new developments taking shape. Seeing what can be done to halt the flow of traffic in the town can be done as part of looking towards the town’s future next 10 to 20 years.
Currently numerous exciting projects are taking place in Sheringham which will help keep the town vibrant for years to come. The east beach will soon see a fantastic new toilet block with the potential to be an architectural landmark. The town is also about to get a substantial investment from BT which is going to add superfast broadband to the towns infrastructure. Sheringham has the opportunity to become a trailblazer for broadband investment within Norfolk which is a fantastic achievement for local residents, business and tourists who increasingly want internet access.
We are pleased that the District Council has stepped in to provide the necessary funds to fund the mystery shopper initiative. This is about finding what is best and what is not so good about the shopping experience in Sheringham, and to give advice to all businesses on how they can increase their appeal even more.
We feel the time is right for such pedestrianisation trial to go ahead and it will give Sheringham a greater visibility, and the potential for greater footfall within the town, whilst also making the streets a more relaxing place to shop.
While we understand there are potential negatives to this trial we believe it is best to at least try to see what can be done about the current situation which is far from perfect.
(Text also appears in North Norfolk News October 6th)
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