Burnham-On-Sea Town Council has this week appointed the group of community representatives who will decide how £320,000 of Tesco cash is spent on improving the town centre.
Members of the council’s Town Improvements Committee have agreed that six representatives of the community will be co-opted onto the committee to join the discussions.
The Town Team will be invited to send two representatives, while Burnham Chamber of Trade will have one, Somerset Tourism Association will have one and there will also be two members of Burnham’s former Regeneration Partnership – Mike Murphy and Tony Lynham.
Tesco has given more than £320,000 of community funding towards the regeneration of Burnham town centre to offset any damage to traders from its store expansion (pictured above). However, the funding is time-boxed and has to be spent by March.
Town Clerk Eileen Shaw told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It is the intention that additional meetings of the Town Improvements Committee will be held during the coming months to make final recommendations to the Town Council, hopefully at the December meeting, but most definitely by the January 2013 meeting.”
“In coming to a decision on these recommendations, the Committee will need to assess fully the impact of schemes recommended on the environment, local businesses and residents, and how sustainable such schemes would be in the long term.”
“It will also be necessary to produce budget costings for schemes recommended, including any long term revenue expenditure implications, to be sure that they are affordable within the limited funding available.”
“As the legal agreement for this funding is between Sedgemoor District Council and Tesco stores, the decision on whether to accept the Town Council’s final recommendations will rest with SDC.”
The first meeting of the Town Improvements Committee at which the subject is to be addressed will be held on Thursday 27th September at 6pm in the Council Chambers in Jaycroft Road.
