Ex-Debenhams store could become homes in £20m plan

King's Lynn's Debenhams closed at the start of the pandemic and never reopened

A town's former Debenhams could be turned into housing, according to the chair of a board developing plans for £20m of funding.

Earlier this year, the government confirmed King's Lynn, Norfolk, would receive the money to help with regeneration.

Vicky Etheridge, who heads the town's "neighbourhood board", said the funding could be spent on a wide range of areas, including health, skills, jobs, cutting crime and housing.

One possibility was that some of it could be used on feasibility plans for disused, large buildings, such as the former department store which closed in 2020.

"They're big and they're empty because they're costly to repurpose. We're not going to get John Lewis or Zara or a massive store taking over," she said.

"But we could look at turning some into housing, for example, or into other multi uses. Whether that might be leisure, dentists or NHS facilities."

The neighbourhood board and King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council have to submit initial plans to the government later this year.

In the meantime, they said they were looking for local charities and community groups to help gather views from the wider community on how the investment could be used.

The BBC has spoken to some people in King's Lynn to see what they think the town needs.

Robert Nicholls said play areas on estates in the town could be improved

"King's Lynn is now starting to be rundown. It's full of charity shops, coffee shops – very few independent shops left – no markets left," said Robert Nicholls.

He wanted money to be used to help new local businesses open in the town centre, with facilities in other parts of the town also improved.

"The Fairstead and places like that – their play areas are looking rundown, so money could be spent on them," he said.

"Or the North Lynn community centre, that's rundown – I'd like to see money spent on them."

Danielle and Sharon Bowman said they wanted improved health services

Mother and daughter, Sharon and Danielle Bowman, said they "loved" King's Lynn – but Sharon was also disappointed with vacant units in town – blaming parking charges for a downturn in trade.

"That's a big thing when the shops start closing – I think it's very sad, [having] lived in the town all my life."

The pair agreed that better health services were needed.

"We've got so many more houses being built, but you can't get doctor's appointments like you should be able to," said Danielle.

Shaun Claxton said the town missed its dental access centre

"It was a real loss to King's Lynn when we lost our dental access centre," said former nurse Shaun Claxton.

"It helped an awful lot of people with their dentistry and was a real loss to the community.

"That helped people who couldn't get an NHS dentist, people who needed emergency work and it was a very good service.

"It would be lovely to see it return."

"We need to get more people into town," said cafe owner Jack Roper

Dominika Lukasevic, 20, said it was hard to develop skills locally.

"Either we're just too ignorant or there's not enough advertisement out there for experiences and opportunities for young [people] who just came out of school."

"The big universities are [at least] an hour away," she added.

Jack Roper, who runs a cafe in the town centre, said better bus services could draw more people in.

"If they put a park and ride in, that'd help the community - use the bus lanes more and get a lot more footfall in," he said.

"One of the biggest things that people get frustrated about is – why go into town and struggle for parking when you can go to the [retail parks] and have an easier life with free parking?"