North Walsham town centre. Picture: ARCHANT LIBRARY
Turning fortunes of ‘stagnating’ North Walsham will need patience
Richard Batson
Friday, December 14, 2012
6:30 AM
Turning round the fortunes of “stagnating” North Walsham would take time and patience councillors were told.
A retail study looking at ways to increase footfall in the town centre has suggested a central supermarket on the Paston Sixth Form College’s Lawns site.
Trevor Ivory told fellow North Norfolk District Council cabinet members the college was exploring the idea, and there were discussions ongoing with locals including traders, and the report seemed to be getting cross-party support.
Wyndham Northam said when he moved to Norfolk 20 years ago he thought North Walsham had “great potential” but added: “it seems to have stagnated over the years and many people hope this is the start of realising that potential.”
Eric Seward said turning around a town was like “turning around an oil tanker heading for the rocks” and while it was easy to say the town was not what it used to be, it was harder to what it should be and how to get there.
“It takes time and patience,” he added.
The full council will be asked to look at ways to provide investment and development at North Walsham that will support the vitality and viability of the town centre.
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8 comments
i love lidls wind up but can't do a full shop there i tend to shop online as much as possible
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kaz
Friday, December 14, 2012
Mankind has been on this planet for circa 45000 years. During that time, mankind has had some good ideas and some really bad ones. However, in all that time there has never been a more stupid idea than taking away one the lawns of the most prestigious buildings in the town and making it into a tiny wee, uneeded supermarket, so, small, it won't have room for parking. And, it took a commitee to create this masterplan! Kaz, If you don,t like Waitrose prices, and don;t like Sainsbury's, have you tried Lidl? There must be a limit to the number of supermarkets this town needs?
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windup
Friday, December 14, 2012
i think its great waitrose is here but after looking around i can't afford their prices same as i don't like sainsburys prices we need an asda or tescos to pick north walsham up.
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kaz
Friday, December 14, 2012
I doubt a town centre supermarket will make any difference. In my own case, if it has a car park I might use it, otherwise I won't. In either case it won't get me visiting any other town centre establishments. The high street is dead and I don't understand this obsession with trying to prop up an outdated, inconvenient and expensive mode of shopping that most people quite evidently don't want any more.
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John57
Friday, December 14, 2012
I doubt a town centre supermarket will make any difference. In my own case, if it has a car park I might use it, otherwise I won't. In either case it won't get me visiting any other town centre establishments. The high street is dead and I don't understand this obsession with trying to prop up an outdated, inconvenient and expensive mode of shopping that most people quite evidently don't want any more.
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John57
Friday, December 14, 2012
It's got town centre supermarkets and it's still dying, so I'm not convinced that Waitrose is going to make anything worse. If anything, it will bring people in, plus providing much needed jobs. It's lost its sense of community spirit (with the exception of an honourable few who are doing their best) and it will never return to former glories without it. The closure of Woolworths was particularly bad for the retail sector - the one shop people made an effort to come into town for. Without that, why bother?
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a fine city
Friday, December 14, 2012
Jobs is what North Walsham needs, the council can look as hard as it likes at the town centre but when people are in another town working that is where they are likely to spend their money.
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Born61
Friday, December 14, 2012
Building out of town supermarkets isn't going to help for a start!
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paddy5791
Friday, December 14, 2012