Saturday in Christchurch

Despite the worst half term weather imaginable I was delighted to see Christchurch town centre busy with residents and visitors through yesterday. I spent a very pleasant couple of hours walking in the town, I strolled down to the splash park to see if anyone was foolhardy enough to let their kids get even wetter and was amazed to see it so busy. Indeed that whole river frontage was alive with people and although wrapped up warm they all seem to be enjoying the fresh air. The town centre was busy too, I popped into the new art gallery, had a quick look at the new boutiques and took the opportunity of booking a table for Saturday night at the brand new and very smart Pizza Express on the corner of Wick Lane. What a difference this re- build has made to that part of the town! If we can only sort out the old Super buys shop we will have that part of the High Street sorted. On to Druitt gardens and here again the park was busy, then to New Zealand gardens to see the play centre alive with kids. All in all I was really pleased that despite the weather Christchurch was obviously regarded by visitors and residents as a great place to spend some time. One issue did bug me though and that has to be considered as a bit of a negative, parking ones car can be a real problem at peak times. I visited three car parks only to find then chock-a-block. This issue has to go on our to-do list if we want Christchurch to grow with new shopping and facilities. Not sure what the answer is but we do need to look at Christchurch town centre with the objective of improving even more the whole experience for residents and visitors alike. There is not a quick solution because dependency on traffic improvement is not within the control of CBC; it is for Dorset County Council to come on board and helping to develop our vision. So if you get the chance speak to your County Councillor just to remind him/her that Christchurch, although as far East of the County from Dorchester as you are going to get, has a real need for some innovative investment in order to continue the excellent work being undertaken by the Borough Council. By the way the Pizza Express experience on Saturday night was great!