Turnstone - Reinvest every penny from sale of public land in Hunstanton
Kevan Fleming, managing director of Legge’s, which has traded in the High Street since 1938, is demanding that all money derived from the sale of public land in Hunstanton should be spent on improving the town.
In particular, he wants the borough council to use a compulsory purchase order to acquire the derelict garage site adjacent to the bus station and turn it into retail units, with an emphasis on arts and crafts.
“Money has changed hands,” he said.
“All of the income from the sale of former railway land to Marstons for their licensed restaurant should be spent on regenerating Hunstanton.
“It should not simply go into the coffers or be spent elsewhere in the borough.
“The proposed improvements to the Westgate Spinney area will merely draw attention to the eyesore resulting from the demolition of the former garage and filling station.”
In Mr Fleming’s vision the current car park would become an underground shoppers’ car park with the retail area at ground floor level with accommodation above.
There must be few in the town who would disagree with Mr Fleming’s observations, to which I would add the following comments.
Why did the borough ditch its policy of protecting the trackbed of the Lynn to Hunstanton railway line when other sites were available much closer to the town centre?
Apart from the derelict site mentioned above, the railway station site itself, adjacent to Harlequin House, would have left open the possibility of bringing a railway or even a cycleway into the heart of our town. It has been rumoured that this land is also for sale, at the right price!
If so, it would indicate that the borough council is predicting a steady decline in the number of people coming to Hunstanton by car, which should worry businesses in the town that depend on a steady flow of visitors.
In a commendable effort to save the town from this fate, The Elf That Saved Christmas opens tomorrow at the Princess Theatre and will run until December 27 when attention switches to the Town Hall Theatre, where the Festival Players’ pantomime Pinocchio takes to the stage from December 28 to 31.
Both shows offer matinee performance as well as evening shows from 7pm. All this without a subsidy from the borough council which prefers to invest council tax collected throughout West Norfolk on subsidising the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn. No wonder people living in the Hunstanton area feel like Cinderellas.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 6 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 18 C
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