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Thursday 19 February 2009
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Poster by Gazette
About Me
- Mike
- Born in Plymouth, served in Royal Air Force, then in the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, have been a town councillor for 10 years and lived in Cullompton for 25 years.
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We need to attract more visitors.
ReplyDeleteI know Chard quite well, like Cullompton not one of the most photographed West Country towns.
I like our (Cullompton’s) colourful but brief Town Trail leaflet,and our booklets specifically about local countryside walks. However, I have just unearthed a (05/6) Chard Tourist Guide running to 20 pages, "published by Chard Town Council".
Like a local firm's monthly "Cullompton Life" magazine it has a lot of adverts, but unlike the latter it is not (nowadays) adverts and little else, there is a lot of big-print local information and photographs.
Exeter and Essential Devon Tourist Board do confine us to the briefest possible mention in their Guide.
Any chance of building a Cullompton Tourist Guide like Chard's?
(Mike, having just rebuilt my google login using links from Steve’s website, I think you need a similar link to form a google account here, for potential new participants.)
I have only recently moved to Cullompton, but I've seen a marked decline in the number of shops in the 18 months I've been here.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find it hard to see how regeneration can occur without the completion of a bypass which will allow the complete closure (except for access) of the high street from Station Road to Lower Bull Ring. Once this was pedestrianised, Cully could have a really beautiful centre and it would be a pleasant experience shopping here. The tea shops could have tables outside, we could walk through the town without constantly looking over our shoulder to see if a lorry is coming up behind. As it is though, we have a really traffic filled, unpleasant high street. I really despair about it sometimes.
To try and be more positive - perhaps a bigger focus on exploiting Tesco's customers would help? It would need Tesco's permission but perhaps a flyer, distributed on Saturday morning with a map on one side (showing people how to walk to the high street) and information on what shops there are on the other. You moght start to encourage people to do a big shop at Tesco but then visit the high street (for tea or flowers or all the amazing range of stuff you get at Alfies)
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comments.By coincidence we have previously insisted on proper signage from Tesco to draw people in to town, this past week I have been to at least three meetings and this point was raised again and again, it is subject to a planning condition imposed on Tesco.
Bypass is a very hot controversial subject, Town Council is fighting for this already, as an individual I would like a pedestrianised area, it can be done, I have seen it in many towns with similar traffic issues.
How to bring the town back to life....I would like to see the court car park open and let people park for 30 mins as it is no longer in use, and advertise the fact in the gazette, I’m sure if we had a one way system in the town and parking on one side of the street for again 30 mins im sure this would help, I know the council have there reasons not to do this, like the fire station is in the wrong place...."move it" simple really, the buses cant get through Tiverton road " move the route" simple again, just remember when fore street was closed for 6 weeks last year, busses, lorries etc all found alternative routes so why cant they again? and don’t keep moaning about how dead the town is all the time, tell people how good it is u still have a few good shops in town and work from that. Rate reduction would help new people to come into the town. And old. Surely we can do something about this. Got that of my chest !!!
ReplyDeleteThe court car park is owned by the Home Office, repeated requests and they will not release it at this time. The one way system will bring several issues, please look at options in my other comments.
ReplyDeleteIt is not that easy just move the fire station or the bus route, buses have to do a pick up one direction and drop off by opposite route, a one way system will not work for them.
Unfortunately we can not at this stage force drivers to use alternate routes, county highways will not use width and weight restrictions, town council has already asked for that.
Rate reduction - there is a reduced rate for small businesses,the government fix the rate, its collected by District councils not the town AND it all goes to, yes you have guessed, the government !
Thank you for getting it off your chest, its not always your local council at fault, it just looks like it
My husband and I moved from Woodley in Berkshire just o ver a year ago to be near our daughter and family who live in Bradninch. Travelling through Cully during that time, we have noticed a decline in the town centre. ~Woodley was exactly the same until it was pedestrianised and the council allowed a well known coffee shop to access the thoroughfare with tables and chairs. They also brought in a farmers' market into the centre together with regular markets from France, Germany and Italy. The transformation was outstanding. Cully farmers' market would be far more successful if it was centralised. I must admit that although I use local services wherever possible, I do not use the market - I use the Pannier market on Wednesday mornings instead for my vegetables and meat from Veseys.
ReplyDeleteIf popular stores such as New Look could be persuaded to take a unit in Cully the young local people would not have to travel to Exeter.
Pedestrianisation could never work for a town like Cullompton, all it would do is deter people from going into the centre at all as they would all be able to get in their cars, drive to Tesco's park for free and do their shopping there. It would be the one way to ensure the extinction of the small businesses.
ReplyDelete