A community engagement has begun to get the thoughts of residents and businesses about improving Great Yarmouth.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s wide-ranging programme includes an online survey and workshops to help it shape its vision for the town.

Alongside Government grant support, the council seeking to invest in the future of the borough and, as part of creating a strategic plan for the next five years the council wants to hear from as many residents, stakeholders, community organisations and businesses as possible. It will feed into future spending priorities.

The plan will set out its vision and priorities regarding themes of safety and security, high streets, heritage and regeneration, and transport and connectivity.

Natasha Hayes, executive director, place, for the council, said: ”We want to remain focused on strategies that will help us make a significant difference to the lives of our residents as we seek to raise aspirations and drive economic development across the borough.

”It is vital that we have a community-focused plan for how money should best be invested and that reflects the priorities residents consider to be important.

”That is why we are conducting an important and detailed series of activities to engage the community and provide input into how we shape our vision. I hope as many people as possible will participate in this process and look forward to seeing the results in due course.”

The council’s regeneration strategy has seen some projects already completed, such as the £26 million Marina Centre on the town’s seafront and the multi-million-pound covered market.

Other major projects include The Place (a new £17m library and learning hub in the former Palmers department store) which is due to open next year and the redevelopment of the Winter Gardens and the Operations and Maintenance Campus in South Denes.

Communications firm Filigree has been commissioned to lead the engagement work and will be organising a range of activities to seek public feedback, including the online survey, workshops, in-depth interviews with stakeholder groups and schools and colleges and a number of drop-in sessions.

The online survey can be found at https://surveys.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/community-engagement-survey. It closes on Friday, June 21.

Four drop-in sessions are proposed:

  • Thursday, June 13, 2pm – 5pm at Cobholm Community Centre
  • Wednesday, June 19, 1pm – 4pm at the Six-Day Market
  • Friday, June 21, 10am – 1pm at Marina Leisure Centre café
  • Tuesday, June 25, 10am – 1pm at Shrublands Youth and Adult Centre, Gorleston

Image: Norfolkadam, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

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