A group of Burnham-On-Sea residents made a last-ditch attempt to secure hundreds of thousands of pounds towards funding the town’s regeneration plans on Thursday (September 24th).

Neville Jones, Alex Turco, Tony Lnyham and John Edwards (pictured) travelled to Taunton to attend the AGM of the South West Regional Development Agency.

Earlier this year, the agency turned down Burnham’s bid for £750,000 of vital funding, thereby putting the brakes on plans to pedestrianize the town centre and modernise Burnham.

The group of Burnham residents attending Thursday’s meeting, who were representing Burnham’s Regeneration Partnership and the Chamber Of Trade, told a capacity audience at Taunton Conference Centre on the campus of Somerset College of Arts and Technology that Burnham deserves a second chance.

Tony Lynham made a vociferous argument against SWRDA’s decision to give Burnham no funding, adding that the decision had been a “huge blow” to the town.

He was delighted when Jim Knight, Minister for the South West, said he would consider reviewing the decision and looking at Burnham’s case in detail.

Other members of the group also put SWRDA bosses on the spot, with Alex Turco questioning a claim that Burnham’s Civic Pride scheme would not create additional jobs, while John Edwards asked what compensation would be available to the town for eight years of lost time and effort.

Cllr Jones questioned SWRDA’s claim that no money was available in light of a contrary announcement by the Chancellor.

And Cllr Jones also pointed to an email, received by Sedgemoor District Council last December, when SWRDA appeared to state that funding had been earmarked for Burnham. He said the decision not to give Burnham the money had been “unjust and highly questionable.”

A follow-up letter is to be written to Jim Knight, Minister for the South West, appealing for a re-think and a separate letter is to be sent to SWRDA’s Nick Lewis with a claim for compensation for the wasted costs.

Cllr Jones told Burnham-On-Sea.com after Thursday’s meeting that he remains optimistic that some funding can still be secured.

“Thursday’s meeting was not in vain – there is still some hope that we can secure money for Burnham’s regeneration,” he said. “We’ll be taking this as far as we can to secure any amount of SWRDA funding.”

Burnham-On-Sea.com was first to report in June how plans to regenerate Burnham had been dealt a severe blow when it SWRDA announced the town would not be getting £750,000 of much-needed funding for the project.

Pictured above are Neville Jones, Alex Turco, Tony Lnyham and John Edwards outside the Taunton Conference Centre on Thursday; and (above) how Burnham’s High Street could have looked if pedestrianisation plans under regeneration had been given the go-ahead

.VIDEO COVERAGE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF ‘SWRDA’:

 
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