North Norfolk District Council’s “You Are Welcome” initiative has been developing a plan, in consultation with local businesses, Highways and Hoveton Parish Council, as to how we can safely accommodate an expected increase in visitors to our village as lockdown eases further in July.

NNDC has been very impressed by the way businesses are already operating, so changes won’t be radical. We don’t expect one-way pedestrian flows to be implemented. There is broad agreement that a one-way pedestrian system would cause more problems than it would solve in terms of public safety (especially on the road near the bridge) and that it would also have a disproportionate impact on those with mental or physical disabilities.

During the week of the 29th June, you can expect to see queuing markers appear on Hoveton’s pavements to direct the queues for each business, and some movement of furniture on Granary Staithe to accommodate queuing on the footpath. You’ll also see social distancing and hand washing reminders being placed around the village centre and some hand sanitiser stations being installed.

We’ll let you know about other measures (possibly traffic related) as and when these have been agreed with affected businesses. Both HPC and NNDC are realistic that we need to be prepared for the current plans to evolve. None of us know how busy the village is going to be, but it is assumed we will see a substantial increase in visitors to the area in the coming weeks. If you become aware of issues which arise over this period, please do let us know.