Responses to Coastal Neighbourhood Plan Business Survey.

19 May 2014

Background - Paper versions of the Business Questionnaire were distributed by hand approximately a month ago. To date only 15 have been returned or completed on line. In an effort to increase the response rate businesses in Seahouses were visited on Monday 19 May.

Approximately 20 were visited. Some others weren’t open, two were too busy to speak to me and another said they didn’t complete surveys. Some business owners said they had forgotten about the survey, hadn’t known how to answer and/or would do so now.

I also gave the option of telling me their comments and I would add them to the report. The following were gathered that way.

  • Extend the season. Accommodation providers should offer more off-peak offers.
  • The Co-op needs earlier deliveries. They are restricted to after 7am which means the wagon delivers everywhere else first and there isn’t time to get the stuff on the shelves.
  • The Co-op should have bought The Farne and moved over there. It needs a loading bay and a pick up zone outside.
  • There needs to be more media coverage and personalities visiting Seahouses. This Spring has been busy and it’s a result of Robson Greens programme.
  • Need cheaper annual parking permits for people working in Seahouses. It was talked about but hasn’t happened. Even £15 a year. People are parking in the residential streets and clogging them up and sometimes can’t get their cars out if they have been working late.
  • Holiday cottage owners are telling people where to park and that is filling up the side streets.
  • Keep the movies. (The Hub) that is great for Seahouses.
  • Put the play park on the horseshoe in James Street and make the play park site parking for the Health Centre. There is going to be an accident there some day as you have to pull out into the centre of the road to see if anything is coming.
  • Parking! There shouldn’t be double white lines on the road up towards North Sunderland. Need to have limited short stay stopping to support those shops.
  • More residential housing, year round to support businesses. Plus young families that want to take over family businesses have nowhere to live so they move away.
  • It’s too far to travel for training. There are no buses. You have to get from Seahouses to Belford, then a bus to Alnwick, and then try to get to Ashington. You can’t do that for 9am.
  • Affordable Housing is being given to people with no local connection over people who live here. People tell Homefinder that their tenancy is coming to an end and they are given a house here. No investigation is made into if they could stay on there or go elsewhere. Therefore young people miss out. Needs more weight given to having a local connection. Or more affordable houses built.
  • Free parking. I can park in the centre of Edinburgh for 9 hours cheaper than I have to pay to work here.
  • Parking. Bring back parking on one side of the Main Street like it used to be to help trade. You could police that as easy as policing the present system.
  • Tidier. The centre of Seahouses could do with a tidy up.
  • I like meeting people. It’s all tourism, 100% of my customers.
  • Finding volunteers is difficult. We offer up to an NVQ3 here but there is no support for finding volunteers, even for a couple of hours a week..
  • Recent developments are ‘trashy’. They complain about neon lights but not neon paint colours.
  • The seafront could be developed a bit better.
  • There are no or few baby changing facilities.
  • More retail shops, we have so many good ones. No more food outlets.
  • Mckays extending his shop has hit lots of others as he sells cheap versions of their stock but there is nothing you can do.
  • More easier to understand questions in your surveys. I gave up!
  • More parking, free would be better but . . .
  • More disabled parking. Customers just complaining they are all full so they can only stay in the village for an hour.
  • Having offers in local hotels has helped us this year, more hotels and holiday companies should offer off peak deals. Advertise deals in January, February, March to people who come here in the summer. Need more custom all year round.
  • A Shop Local Campaign. Give discounts for local products to local customers. More holiday home owners should be using local goods rather than buying them from Asda.
  • Cottage owners need to see what is on offer locally. Get more linked in. Provide the local touch. Non local produce is being promoted and given away rather than Seahouses Ale for example.
  • Free parking and more parking. You see them. People drive in, drive around, drive out as its full and go elsewhere.