{"id":103888,"date":"2025-08-30T23:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T23:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/103888\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T23:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T23:17:08","slug":"hunstantons-30000-clifftop-observatory-used-just-10-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/103888\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunstanton&#8217;s \u00a330,000 clifftop observatory used just 10 times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  But a council&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/news\/23468008.new-hunstanton-observatory-open-first-time-weekend\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a330,000\u00a0observatory<\/a> has not exactly turned out to be a star attraction.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Figures released by\u00a0West Norfolk Council show the solar-powered facility on the cliffs at Hunstanton has\u00a0been used just 10 times since it opened &#8211;\u00a0despite being free to hire.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  And while delights visible on a clear night include Andromeda, Orion and the North Star, visible by day are the weeds that have sprung up around the site.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In 2023, it hosted two events after opening in April of that year, followed by four in 2024 and four more during this\u00a0year to date.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"An interpretation board showing what can be seen over Hunstanton on a clear night\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>An interpretation board showing what can be seen over Hunstanton on a clear night (Image: Chris Bishop) A council spokesman said: &#8220;We have limited budget for continuous paid promotion of the venue usage, but all tourism businesses on our Visit West Norfolk contacts list will soon receive another round of e-shots promoting the use of the venue.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Our aim is to enable, for example, local accommodation businesses to use\u00a0the venue as a high quality authentic bookable experience in the same vein as more traditional spa treatments\u00a0or golfing trips\u00a0as bookable experiences during visitor stays.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  When it first announced plans for the observatory, based next to its clifftop car park, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/news\/22644510.stargazers-flocking-new-observatory-bring-tourism-boost-coast\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the council said it would bring more tourists to the resort<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 5m by 3m building off the main Cromer Road was paid for by the European Regional Development Fund\u00a0and features a rolling roof, so visitors can view the night skies from inside.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The \u00a330,000 observatory was paid for from the European Regional Development Fund\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The \u00a330,000 observatory was paid for from the European Regional Development Fund (Image: Chris Bishop) The council said it could also be used for other activities, such as watching wildlife.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Improvements are planned for later this year, including\u00a0new interpretation boards showing the night sky and nocturnal wildlife, along with removable seating for up to 10 people.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"Weeds have sprung up around the Hunstanton Observatory\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Weeds have sprung up around the Hunstanton Observatory (Image: Chris Bishop)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But a council&#8217;s \u00a330,000\u00a0observatory has not exactly turned out to be a star attraction. Figures released by\u00a0West Norfolk&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-103888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}