RESIDENTS and businesses from Cullompton are being encouraged to have their say on the state of the town centre.

A new project is seeking views from members of the public regarding the town centre and what needs to be done to improve it as part of a bid to secure money from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The project is being led by a steering group which includes members of Mid Devon District Council, Devon County Council, Cullompton Town Council, Culm Valley in Business, Cullompton Town Team and the Neighbourhood Plan One member of the Cullompton Town Team, Sue Williams, is also a landlord in the town centre and encouraged members of the public to have their say.

She said: “As a landlord in the town and as a member of the Cullompton Town Team, I welcome the positive approach to attracting funding within the town.

“This work builds on other work to improve the town centre over the past six years, including the Shopfront Facelift scheme and the very successful SpringFest and Cullompton Food and Drink Festival which are reinforcing that the town has a lot to offer.”

The aim is to attract considerable funding which is offered by Heritage Lottery Fund to provide grants for owners and tenants in High Street and Fore Street, plus some adjacent courts, to renovate their properties, especially where there is a commercial use.

The project would also fund some improvement to public spaces, and offer free training in historic building maintenance.

For the bid to be successful, the Steering Group needs to collect evidence including the views of owners and tenants and will be contacting them in the next few weeks.

Michael Speirs, chairman of the Culm Valley in Business, also urged residents to take part, and said: “This survey is important for the High Street because we get more information that will help us improve the economy and environment of the town centre.”