Extra funding granted to regenerate Wincanton town centre

Wincanton is one of three towns in a regeneration scheme

Extra funding has been granted to improve a town centre as part of a regeneration project.

South Somerset District Council have approved an extra £260,000 towards improving Wincanton town centre.

The council's executive committee voted unanimously on 7 July to approve the additional funding from reserves.

The works will get under way in October, with the total regeneration budget for the area at around £2.7m.

It comes after the council voted in February to cut the Wincanton budget by more than 50%.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the improvements to be made include safer crossings, new planted areas, wider pavements and improvements to existing historic buildings.

Cllr John Clark, who lives in Wincanton, said: "The Wincanton regeneration project has some quite complex issues, which are under discussion at the moment, but this particular proposal is actually quite simple - there is an increase in cost."

"The previous reduction in funding for the Wincanton regeneration project has caused considerable concern locally."

'A fiasco'

Wincanton is one of three towns which South Somerset District Council has been seeking to regenerate - the others being in Chard and Yeovil.

Wincanton's two ward councillors, Nick Colbert and Colin Winder, have been deeply critical of the district council's regeneration programme, branding it "a fiasco" and "a waste of money".

The remaining funds should be given to the town council for it to spend how it wishes, they said.

But Tim Child, who sits on Wincanton Town Council, said he and his fellow councillors remained supportive of the district council's ongoing efforts.

"While we note the current scope of the regeneration plan is less ambitious than envisaged by the 2019 Wincanton town centre strategy, we hope that the current plan will continue to strive to create as many building blocks for future regeneration," said Mr Child.