Hello,

Reported in the local press recently is a new community initiative which has set up a Facebook group called 'Kickstart Fakenham'. The idea is to start a rejuvenation of the town from the community point of view - more facilities, better services and shops. Reasons for people to be proud of Fakenham and to generally liven things up.

Facebook page here.

It's early days yet. Some of the ideas so far have centred around some kind of music festival for the town and a reprise of the Summer Fete. Members of the group are concerned at the closure of so many retail outlets. There's also a lack of things for kids to do, according to others.

I think a music festival's a great idea, but I wouldn't want to be exclusively for youngsters. It should cater for different kinds of musical taste and all age groups. That would provide a way to spread it over time (maybe one a week during the midsummer period), get longer-term PR and encourage more visitors rather than have a one-off event which everybody forgets quickly.

The empty shops thing - we've been here before, but the financial downturn's potentially making the situation worse this time round. One idea I've heard from fellow business people is to ask the Council to encourage more startups by offering reduced business rates. That'd be a good start, although the high rents in the town centre don't exactly encourage new tenants.

I think there is a local requirement for a large retail outlet split into lots of separate mini-shops (somewhere like the Woolies building?) and a similar need for office space for small businesses to test the water before commiting to larger premises (the old Learning Centre?). That'd create lots of new interesting enterprise in the town.

Steve
The Webmaster