Special visit to boost Redditch's Portas bid

Buy photos » Redditch Town Centre Partnership members Anita Clayton, Mavis Barrett, Ros Sidaway and Jonathan Sidaway. Picture by Ian Dipple (s).

REDDITCH received a visit from retail guru 'Mary Portas' this week.

But it was not the Queen of Shops herself but members of Redditch Town Centre Partnership out in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre on Monday and Tuesday (June 25 and

26) gathering support for the town's revised Portas Pilot bid.

More than 1,000 people have backed plans to breathe new life into the town centre by using empty units in and around Church Green to create a promotional hub and heritage centre for the town, a community arts venue, town heritage trail and community events programme. Revitalising the market is also part of the bid.

But to make the plans a reality the Government needs to be convinced Redditch is worthy of the £100,000 on offer as well as support from Whitehall and Ms Portas herself.

Although the deadline for submissions to the contest is tomorrow (June 30) public support is key and people are being urged to watch the official bid video by searching for Redditch Portas II on YouTube.

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