Painting Over the Cracks

Bromsgrove's Liberal Democrats have accused the local Conservatives of painting over the cracks on the High Street as they refuse to lobby for extra money for improvements or commit to a showpiece annual community celebration event.

At a recent Bromsgrove District Council meeting the Liberal Democrat group put forward two motions, firstly to lobby Worcestershire County Council to re-invest the proceeds of the sale of the library site into upgrading Bromsgrove High Street and secondly to thank local volunteers who put together the recent jubilee event, whilst asking council officers to explore the potential of an annual community celebration.

Worcestershire County Council recently sold the library site to Bromsgrove District Council as part of plans to regenerate the town centre. The District Council which is leading the project bought the site along with the old fire station using Levelling up funding from central government. The Liberal Democrats have called for the proceeds of the sale to be reinvested in refurbishing the high street instead of being lost to general funds.

Cllr Siobhan Robinson who proposed the first motion said, 'Our High Street looks so run down these days due to the lack of investment. I shop there every week and used to work there and find it a sad sight. I can't understand why the Conservatives won't work with their own colleagues at County to use the recent windfall from the sale of the library to fund much needed improvements.'

Cllr Janet King proposed a motion asking the council to explore the potential for an annual showpiece celebration event on the High Street as part of the Bromsgrove festival.

Janet said: 'The jubilee celebrations were fantastic and I would like to thank all those volunteers who helped make the event such a success. Our High Street shops need our support. When we have events on that bring people in local businesses prosper. As a council we should build on this recent success and work towards an annual celebration that really puts Bromsgrove on the map.'