Cotswold Chatterblog

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

The historic market town of Berkeley near Gloucester is planning to put itself firmly on the tourist map in a bid to attract more visitors. Despite having two very popular attractions of very different types on its outskirts - Berkeley Castle and Cattle Country - the centre of the pretty town is often by-passed by tourists despite its many attractions; including local cafes, a hotel, pubs and speciality shops. This fact, coupled with the drastic reductions in staffing levels at the nearby Magnox power station over recent years, meant local people were concerned for the future prosperity of their community.

Now, thanks to almost £7,000 from the Gloucestershire rural renaissance programme. Berkeley’s town plan steering group has been able to commission a range of information boards and leaflets which will attract more visitors. Town mayor Valerie Watts chairs the steering group — an informal community partnership which aims to lead, support and deliver a range of projects to improve the prosperity, heritage and environment of the town and surrounding countryside. She said: “We carried out a town plan survey in 2005 and this highlighted the concerns of both residents and local traders that the town might suffer as Magnox reduced its workforce. “We have benefited over many years from people who work at the power station using the local shops such as the newsagents on the way to work, the cafes and pubs at lunchtime and the florists on the way home. Now that is definitely changing. Although both Berkeley Castle and Cattle Country are both very busy, visitors don’t realise what else there is to do in the town itself. So we have to put ourselves on the map - literally!” New information map boards are now being produced which will be prominently displayed in the car parks of both the main tourist attractions to encourage people to extend their visit by enjoying what the town centre has to offer. A town guide leaflet is also being designed alongside a town trail. “The £6,708 we have received from Rural Renaissance has enabled us to get the whole idea off the ground, added to £2,000 contributions from both the town council and Magnox”, said councillor Watts. “We’re extremely grateful for the funding. We’ve got lots of other ideas to make the town even more attractive to visitors and everyone is pulling together to make it happen. Our biggest plans are for the redevelopment of the market square - we want to re-instate a paved market place, plant some trees and smarten it up to make it even more welcoming.”

Kate Forrest from Gloucestershire First, which manages the Gloucestershire Rural Renaissance programme, said: “The Berkeley town scheme arose from the public consultation which identified more needed to be done to attract visitors to ensure the future vitality of this historic town. We were therefore pleased to be able to support the steering group’s ideas in a very practical way.” Gloucestershire Rural Renaissance is investing £8 million in projects across the county to boost the rural economy and improve access to services: £4 million of that investment comes from the south west regional development agency - the largest amount the agency has invested in any county across the region to date. The rest comes from the public and private sectors.

For more information, see: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ruralrenaissance

Tags: berkeley

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