People are being given the opportunity to have their say over the redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s Market Place.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council has organised drop-in engagement sessions next week as part of the wider Town Centre Masterplan.

From Monday, June 18 to Saturday, June 23, the design team will be stationed throughout each day in one of the Central Market units, in order to meet stakeholders and discuss, explain and develop their ideas.

The focus of this engagement activity is initial ideas around the market layout, offer, management model and servicing.

Feedback will help the team and borough council to develop a proposed design, which will be subject to consultation.

There is no formal plan or design proposal at this stage, including around the question of the market’s exact position.

Subject to securing funding and the required permissions, the current aspiration is to start work next year, with the new Market Place completed in 2021.

Hudson Architects have been appointed to lead a design team, which is starting the process of engaging with market traders, retailers, shoppers and other stakeholders, to help develop a unique design to improve the market facilities, offer and wider setting.

In a joint statement, the political group leaders, Cllr Graham Plant and Cllr Trevor Wainwright, said: “The Market Place is a central part of Great Yarmouth’s rich cultural heritage, town centre, community, shopping and tourism offers, so its improvement as a key project of the Town Centre Masterplan has the potential to boost the whole borough.

“This redevelopment is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to work with market traders, retailers and the wider community to share ideas and have informed conversations about both the exciting possibilities and challenges that need addressing, and to consider how our Market Place could look and be used in the future.

“There are no formal plans at this stage: the design team is engaging around initial design ideas, and we hope lots of people will take this chance to talk with them so we can shape designs for a Market Place that’s fit for the 21st century and which we can all be proud of.”