An ‘action plan’ of measures designed to promote Sudbury and make it more appealing to visitors has been unveiled by the town team.

With the support of The Rotary Club of Sudbury, the team has just launched a shop local campaign in time for Christmas.

In addition, in conjunction with Gainsborough’s House, the Quay Theatre, Kingfisher Leisure Centre and the Tourist Information Centre, the town team is planning to carry out a survey of shoppers to find out why, and how often, they come to Sudbury. They will have a stand on the market on November 27 and 29 to canvas shoppers.

One idea is a holiday crèche that will enable parents to drop children off at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre for up to three hours while they go Christmas shopping or have lunch in town.

The crèche will take a maximum of six children under the age of five and will run on the first three Thursdays in December, between 10am and 1pm.

The leisure centre will also run an activity session between 3.30pm and 5.30pm for school age children.

At the Christmas Tree Festival in December at St Peter’s Church, the town team will have a tree promoting Sudbury businesses.

Looking ahead to next year, the third Taste of Sudbury food and drink festival has been booked for June 14 and a new 2015 leaflet is planned with a map pointing out shopping areas and attractions.

Other potential projects include approaching landlords to make their empty shop windows look more appealing.

Talking about the shop local campaign, town team chairman Sam Bawden said: “By changing shopping habits, we can all help boost our local economy, maintain the local character of our town and help the environment.

“For these reasons the town team is particularly keen to encourage shoppers to look out for and use independent shops in the town along with the national retail offering.

“By shopping in Sudbury the shopper also benefits from three hours free parking, and local shops can offer a much more personal service.”