A successful public meeting was held in Burnham-On-Sea on Tuesday evening (March 13th) when more than 20 residents gave their backing to the town’s bid to win a share of £1million of Mary Portas funding to improve the town centre.
24 people representing local businesses, councils, residents, community groups and landlords attended the meeting in Burnham’s Princess Theatre where it was decided that an application for cash from the government scheme overseen by retail guru Mary Portas (pictured) would be made.
Alex Turco, a representative of the town group, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It was a very positive meeting and we had a really representative turnout of local people covering many aspects of the town centre.”
“Over the course of two and a half hours, many new and innovative ideas were discussed to attract more people into Burnham and help us create a ‘vision’ for the future of the town centre covering subjects such as public events, cultural and community changes.”
He added that an online survey is to be launched shortly via Burnham-On-Sea.com to gather feedback from local people on the town centre vision, which will form a central part of the overall bid for funding.
“We want people to engage with us, provide feedback and come forward with support for the bid as much as possible,” added Alex.
A further open public meeting is to be held on Thursday March 22nd at 6pm in the Pizey Room at Burnham’s Princess Theatre & Arts Centre to discuss the bid in more detail when all will be welcome.
Alex added: “Our bid has to be submitted by the end of March, so we are still very keen to receive feedback from local people about ideas to improve the town centre and also get messages of support by email or letter, in addition to offers of physical help.”
Various roles have been split up between the 24 members of the town team and work is now also underway on a promotional video to support the bid document itself.
To get in touch with the town team, contact Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade by sending a letter to Sea Breeze Art Gallery at 37 Victoria Street, Burnham or email the chamber’s secretary, Jonathan Walter, here.
