Wells for the Future – starting here!

The Wells Regeneration Partnership has started work on projects to revitalise the town’s economy and cultural infrastructure, with a pledge that “nothing is set is stone”.

The Partnership Board met for the first time on 30 April, and immediately established a working group to start investigating ways to safeguard the future of the Maltings as a community facility.

Other projects will follow, drawing on the findings of consultants BlueFish Regeneration Ltd, whose report into potential regeneration projects was published at the end of 2008, but the board recognised that some of BlueFish’s proposals were very ambitious, and agreed that the options were not interconnected.

Clive Stockton, North Norfolk District Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, was elected chairman of the board at its first meeting. He insisted: “Nothing in the BlueFish report is set in stone. We have to talk to the community now, and find out what people in Wells-next-the-Sea think is worth doing.

“Some of the BlueFish ideas are achievable and desirable, others may be a bit more far-fetched or controversial. But they don’t depend on each other – we can pick and choose what we do, depending on the community’s wishes and the availability of funding.”

The board learned that £25,000 of Government regeneration money is available for carrying out a feasibility study into the future uses and management of the Maltings. While the BlueFish report highlighted the Maltings as an important asset for Wells, its community groups and its residents at large, a full feasibility study is needed to see what condition the building is in, and how it can be best used in years to come.

The board also agreed that one of BlueFish’s recommendations – for a new visitor centre on Beach Road – was unlikely to be as helpful as retaining a tourist information centre adjacent to the Maltings, to help draw people into the Maltings and any amenities it might contain.

Wells-next-the-Sea Town Council, North Norfolk District Council, the Wells Community Association, the Wells Area Partnership, the North Norfolk Community Association and the Benjamin Foundation are all represented on the board.

Board members raised concerns from their various groups and constituents, including views on car parking and other aspects of the BlueFish report. The board agreed to conduct a number of public meetings to keep local people and businesses informed about proposals and progress over the life of the town’s regeneration programme. (Board meetings will not be routinely conducted in public, to ensure members can speak frankly and openly, but minutes of meetings will be made public and the community will be kept up-to-date through news releases and briefings for local media).

ENDS