A NEW Town Team will be tasked with getting ideas off the ground to revitalise Callington town centre – and the town council wants to know people’s thoughts.

Over the last few months, Callington Town Council says it has been deliberating over whether to apply for some of the Town Vitality Funding available from Cornwall Council – Liskeard and Torpoint are among the towns already set to benefit from this money, which is to pay for initial feasibility studies.

“On first consideration, it was feared that the taxpayers’ money would just fund a ‘talking shop’, and might be a futile exercise if nothing concrete could be carried out, as sadly some feasibility studies are unable to get off the ground, ultimately draining moral and financial resources,” said a council spokesperson.

“However, a time extension has recently been given to submit a bid to Cornwall Council.

“We felt the need to further scrutinise the funding criteria and agreed to revisit this again, given the latest Government announcements to support town centres post the pandemic.”

At a full council meeting last week, town councillors also heard from the One Callington Community Interest Company, who spoke on the importance of applying to the fund in an effort to improve Callington for its businesses and residents.

Now Callington Town Council has agreed a budget to write the initial bid that will allow the town council to proceed with an application to the Town Vitality Fund.

Connection

The council spokesperson said: “As part of this process, and in order to have a successful application, we very much need to demonstrate a connection between businesses and our various community groups, and invite anyone to come forward with thoughts and ideas to feed into a ‘Town Team’.

“The town council will be the accountable body but will create the ‘Town Team’ to bring this exciting project alive.

“The ‘Town Team’ needs to be a combination of council, business and community.

“If you would like to contribute your thoughts and ideas to this, please do email us on [email protected] by Wednesday April 7.

“After the year we have had, let’s look forward to a bright future; one where we can pull together and truly demonstrate what community spirit we have in our town.”