As we begin to move beyond the lockdown, the likelihood that people will be unable to take foreign holidays for the foreseeable future might mean that large numbers of people will take holidays, short breaks and day visits within the UK. This means that, from early July, large numbers of people might visit our area, presenting opportunities for local businesses to realise some benefits from what otherwise has been a dreadful season.

Hoveton Parish Council and North Norfolk District Council have begun to consider how large numbers of visitors could be safely managed and accommodated in Hoveton. Our village has many small retail and takeaway businesses and restrictions mean that more people are queuing to enter these businesses and are eating outdoors. We will need to adopt some temporary arrangements to provide a safe environment for pedestrians and traffic. These arrangements would need to be in place for the summer, through say to the end of September.

The aim of these measures would be to provide a safe social-distancing environment for visitors, which encourages spending with local businesses. The District Council’s initial thoughts, which they’ve asked us to consider and comment on, are as follows:

1. The pavements outside Roys department store are wide and could accommodate social distancing, but pavements elsewhere in the village – including outside Roys food hall, at the bus stop for services to Norwich, along Station Road, and on Norwich Road towards the Wroxham Bridge where a number of takeaway businesses are located, are narrow and present challenges in terms of social distancing. We could adopt some one-way pedestrian flows along these roads – perhaps northbound along the western side of Norwich and Stalham Roads and southbound along the eastern side of the street – but we’d need to consider how pedestrians would safely cross the Norwich Road close to the river opposite Granary Staithe.

2. It might also be that the carriageway in Station Road near the SMT Motors building might need to be narrowed to provide safe pedestrian access to the Roys/Riverside Park car park and station as the pavement on the south side of the road here is very narrow and there is no pavement on the northern side of the road.

3. Whilst in private ownership, it should be possible for a one-way pedestrian advisory route to be provided within the Riverside Shopping Centre.

Any measures introduced would be supported by guidance for businesses and visitors and would ideally be implemented by the beginning of July. If you have any thoughts on these points or alternative suggestions, please let us know.