Brackley starts 'health check'

Brackley Vision was launched in the town hall

A Northamptonshire market town is searching for ways to make itself a better place to live.

Community leaders, businesspeople and schoolchildren packed the town hall on Tuesday to mark the launch of Brackley Vision.

The 'health check' scheme, funded by the Countryside Agency, aims to find ways of making the town a better place to live in the future.

Ken Whitehead, chairman of Brackley Vision, said: "The town's certainly got plenty of advantages - it's just a question of using them to our benefit."

Shops declined

Brackley has seen its population grow from about 6,000 in 1991 to nearly 14,000 in 2002.

However, over the same period the number of shops has declined - forcing people to travel to nearby Banbury.

"We've already started visiting groups to ask them for their suggestions, and they always say, 'Please, give us some more shops'," said Mr Whitehead.

"We've got a lot of estate agents and hairdressers but not a lot else."

The Brackley Vision workgroups will be hearing from townspeople about the changes they would like to see in areas such as employment, recreation facilities and transport.

They will then draw up an action plan to be presented to the Countryside Agency, which will help them find funding for their ideas.

The Market Towns Health Check scheme is a nationwide project run in partnership with Action for Market Towns.