Midlands’ market towns get £500,000 extra to survive recession
Jun 29 2009 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post
Market towns across the West Midlands are being offered hundreds of thousands of pounds as part of a new funding drive to help them through the recession.
Evesham and Droitwich in Worcestershire, Atherstone in Warwickshire, Uttoxeter and Leek in Staffordshire, Ellesmere, Ludlow, Market Drayton, Oswestry and Whitchurch in Shropshire and Leominster and Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire are all set to benefit.
A £250,000 fund is being created to help independent retailers to shore up their businesses, while another £150,000 is being made available to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and £100,000 more is going towards promoting festivals.
The response was developed by the West Midlands Taskforce, which is co-ordinating the regional response to the economic crisis and comprises leaders from government, business, regional agencies, trade unions and local authorities.
Events supported include the Evesham River Festival and Stratford-upon-Avon River Festival in July, the Pershore Plum Fayre and Shrewsbury Flower Festival in August, the Ludlow Food Festival in September, and the Stone Food & Drink Festival in October.
MP Peter Luff (Con Worcestershire) said: “This is a welcome package of measures to help our market towns deal with a painful recession.
“It addresses the needs of major employers, small businesses and hard-pressed families and shows that the partnership between local authorities and AWM is delivering real benefits for local people at a difficult time.”
The money is coming from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands, which has also approached larger employers in the towns to offer business support.
Corporate director Mark Pearce said many market towns in the region had become reliant on a few employers and action was necessary to help the towns through tough economic times.
He said: “This tailored economic response, as recommended by the West Midlands Taskforce, is above and beyond our current rural programme and is being rolled out to give market towns the right support and access to the right opportunities to thrive and not just survive this recession.
“We’re a region that has learnt from past economic shocks and recognise the value of collaboration and team work – and Taskforce partners in this particular team are committed to developing the prosperity of the region’s market towns.”
