Town may miss out (From Stroud News and Journal)

Town may miss out

STROUD could be missing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Town Councillors have spoken of their frustration at being made to jump through hoops by the Countryside Agency and South West Regional Development Agency - only to find there is no reward for making the effort.

The council said there is too much confusion over what kind of strategy it should be using to guide its future.

Councillors urged the need for a detailed document to explains what the town has, what it lacks and where it wants to go in the future.

As well as guiding community leaders and organisations to pull in the same direction, they want a strategy to unlock the door to substantial grants from a whole range of sources.

At a meeting of the town council on Monday there was criticism that Stroud is being left behind while towns across Gloucestershire which already have these plans are reaping the rewards.

Last Christmas the town got the go ahead from the Countryside Agency to produce a parish plan. Councillors, volunteers and businesses put in time and effort to get it off the ground.

"But the rug was pulled out from under our feet," said Cllr Andy Read.

"We were told that because the district council was doing a market town strategy for the RDA we weren't eligible.

"Now the RDA's rejected the district council's bid and we're back to square one.

"It's an absolute shambles - the RDA doesn't seem to know what it wants from us.

"The frustrating thing is we could have had this finished by now.

"All the information is there. It just needs one organisation to update it and pull it all together."

Now Cllr Read thinks it is time to look at ways to bypass the bureaucracy.

"There's no reason we can't get together with the district council and look at ways of doing our own strategy.

"I'm not saying we have to stop working with the RDA, I'm just suggesting it's time we had an honest and open debate on it and looked at our other options.

"Even if we miss out on the cash from the RDA, we need a strategy like this available to the councils and the public to help us with bids for grants."