Archived press
release.
A senior Suffolk Coastal councillor has expressed his confidence
that initiatives like Felixstowe Futures and the work of those
committed to the town will help put Felixstowe in a stronger
position to beat the current national economic problems.
A member of Felixstowe Futures and the Council’s lead on
economic development, Cllr Geoff Holdcroft has spoken out after a
series of negative stories about the town’s retail prospects.
“There are some real improvements occurring in Felixstowe that
are perhaps not getting the credit they deserve and I fear that
people are focussing in on the negatives rather than seeing the big
picture,” said Cllr Geoff Holdcroft, Cabinet Member for Leisure and
Economic Development.
“Suffolk County Council’s award-winning shared space scheme
appears to be taking the brunt of the criticism, with some shops
blaming it for hitting their trade. My view is that it is a real
marked improvement, and has helped change Hamilton Road from just
being a parade of shops.
“Traders did recently confirm at a meeting that they were now
getting different visitors to their shops so it seems that the
scheme is proving successful. Of course, there are still
improvements needed, and County’s plans to make more off-street
parking available in the town ought to be a further boost,” added
Cllr Holdcroft.
The shared space was wrongly blamed for a recent accident which
saw a car end up in a shop window. It has since been confirmed that
this was a result of driver error and had nothing to do with the
new street design in Hamilton Road.
Suffolk Coastal has even been criticised for some traders facing
large increases in their business rates, even though the Council’s
role is just to collect the money as it has no responsibility at
all for what is actually charged.
“My understanding is that the Government's valuation office made
the decision to raise and backdate the charge for businesses in
Hamilton Road after some traders had asked for a rebate. I must
reiterate that this Council has no role in setting business rates,
but I am adding my voice to those, including the local MP, who are
asking for some common sense to be applied by the valuation
office.
“I think we all have a responsibility to be careful that we are
not talking down Hamilton Road specifically or Felixstowe as a
whole. Surely we all want thriving shops and secure jobs, but
groundless or overly negative publicity could drive shoppers and
potential investors away.
“The problems facing Felixstowe are no different than those
currently affecting Ipswich, or the rest of the country. However,
initiatives like the Felixstowe Futures project and the work of
those involved in it are helping to attract significant new
investments to the town that we hope will help regenerate it and
give it a secure and bright new future,” added Cllr Holdcroft.
The positive balance sheet for Felixstowe shows that there are
new shops moving into Felixstowe and new jobs being created,
along with multi-million pound investments to protect the long-term
future of the town, whether through coastal defence works, or at
the Port, or in terms of its road and rail links, or giving a fresh
look to its Seafront Gardens.
The Chairman of the Felixstowe Chamber of Trade and member of
Felixstowe Futures, Andrew Rowdon, was reported this week as saying
that businesses will have to adapt to get through the current
problems but that he thought there was a really good future for
Felixstowe.