Sandwich Town Team aims to protect the town’s medieval buildings and keep pedestrians safe with a new traffic report.

Volunteers in the Lorry Watch programme recorded the number of lorries, coaches and buses entering the town.

As we reported last week, the results showed that more than 250 large vehicles are entering the town each day.

Town Team chairman Cllr Sue Laslett said: “In the space of half an hour on a Friday morning I recorded 29 buses travelling through that short little bit of New Street.

“The streets and pavements are so narrow they are not made for that volume – and it’s not going to get any better.”

Cllr Laslett said the report aims to protect the town from damage large vehicles cause to the road and the buildings, and to keep pedestrians safe. But growing tourism in Sandwich also has to be taken into account.

Possible solutions include making King Street pedestrian-only on Thursday and Saturday mornings.

The Town Team has also suggested that a coach park be made either on Richborough Road or at Discovery Park.

This would mean no coaches would need to come directly through the medieval town.

Another idea is to change the bus routes so fewer buses drive through the centre.

These proposals will be discussed at the next Neighbourhood Forum meeting and then put forward to the Joint Transport Board.

Cllr Laslett added: “All the lorries we recorded exceeded the 7.5 tonne weight limit. We have made notes of the number plates, which will be passed to the police.”

The Town Team will eventually distribute questionnaires to find out the views of the public.