PEOPLE interested in shaping Stroud’s future are invited to have their say on the town centre’s neighbourhood plan.

In June this year Stroud Town Council agreed to create a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the town centre and Cheapside area.

Once completed and approved by the community, the plan would become a statutory planning document that can be used to support or challenge planning applications.

It will cover the town centre including Merrywalks, the Cheapside area and the main gateways into the town.

Shaping the heart of Stroud is a programme of consultation, public events and research to help create the plan and all users of the town centre are invited to have their say at Merrywalks Shopping Centre, outside Wilkinsons, until Saturday.

Gathering the opinions of local residents is one of the first stages of the development plan process and various community consultations will take place through October.

Another public event will take place on Saturday, November 15 to showcase the progress of the plan ahead of the creation of a draft plan in April next year and the final plan in May.

It will then face an independent examination in June before the people of Stroud will have the final say on whether the plan is adopted with a referendum in September 2015.

If it is successful then it will sit alongside the district’s Local Plan.