Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade and Commerce has published the results of its shoppers feedback scheme.
Launched online exclusively via Burnham-On-Sea.com, the Chamber has been seeking shoppers’ opinions about what would draw them back into the Town Centre in the face of growing competition from larger retail centres and the Web.
The first results were published last December and on Tuesday further feedback from the study was released.
Of the 139 participants, 72 (52%) were female and 67 (48%) were male. Of these, 123 (88%) were locals and 16 (12%) were visitors. A total of 84 per cent of all entries were online via Burnham-On-Sea.com, with the remainder being paper submissions in shops.
Pedestrianisation is the hottest topic, being mentioned by 65 people (47%), of which 62 are in favour (95%) and three were against (5%).
More parking facilities and additional parking enforcement was mentioned by 54 people (39% in total) while fewer charity shops were mentioned by 42 people (30%) and a better range of shops by 37 people (26%).
Of those people taking part in the study, 23% mentioned ‘big shop chains and Names’ and 10% mentioned improving the town centre’s appearance.
Other topics mentioned in the feedback were more Toilets (7%), more farmers markets like the one pictured in Burnham on the right (6%), different opening hours (4%), better directional signage (4%), better customer service (4%), and improved pavements (4%).
Commenting on the results, the Chamber Of Trade’s Vice Chairman, Alex Turco, said: “The Chamber is very pleased so many people have taken the trouble to respond to our request for feedback and would like to thank all participants.”
“The Chamber’s thanks must also go to Burnham-On-Sea.com for providing the online system, which accounted for 84% of all submissions. A wide range of topics have been raised, which will be taken into account by the Chamber in its activities, and we hope by local authorities, businesses and premises owners in the area.”
“Regarding pedestrianisation, until such time as the Local Transport Plan’s requirement for all towns to have their own Parking Strategy and Traffic Flow Management Plan is met, and such strategies reflect the closure to traffic of the High Street, further comment about or support for pedestrianisation is premature.”
“This is because pedestrianisation would only work if parking and traffic flow in the town, together with loading and other access issues, were resolved. We expect these matters to be addressed by the Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Regeneration Partnership Ltd should pedestrianisation be confirmed as a regeneration proposal.”
“The Chamber agrees that parking provision in the town is a source of concern. Whilst lobbying for improvements and investigations into solutions will continue, the Chamber must respect the current decriminalisation of parking timetable, which means improvement to enforcement is not due until 2008.”
“There was a large correlation between respondents who desired less Charity Shops and more range or more chain stores. The Chamber sympathises with respondents desiring an improvement to the range of shops in the town. However, the Chamber has control over neither the businesses to which landlords rent their premises nor the rents they charge.”
“We must also acknowledge that Burnham is only the 913th most important retail centre in the country and has the lowest amount of retail floorspace per head of population in the county. This means that Burnham is not on the map for most chain stores. If footfall were increased by people using the excellent range of shops already here this might enhance the town’s importance to larger retailers.”
“The feedback scheme was not designed to be a survey, merely an opportunity for shoppers to have their say.”
The Chamber welcomes further feedback to make the results even more representative. Further results will be announced on 24th April 2007, the Chamber of Trade’s Annual General Meeting.
Any comments about these results should be directed to: Mr Alex Turco at 55 Victoria Street, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, TA8 1AW.
RELATED LINKS:
Official Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade Web page
Have Your Say – Burnham-On-Sea shopping survey
