Gateway for Tourism

It is great news that the Wotton Town Council’s Town’s bid to become a Cotswold Gateway Town has been approved by the Cotswold Conservation Board. (Gazette, 7th March, 2019, ‘Gateway Town’). The proposals, which are funded by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPfE), will offer another element to attract visitors to our area, through the provision of better signage and footpath improvements and a number of walking and cycling routes, which will start and finish in Wotton. Rural towns like ours need increased footfall to survive and becoming a Gateway Town is very welcome, which will hopefully attract many more visitors to our beautiful Cotswold Town, not only to enjoy the new routes, but the many other facilities on offer locally.

For the last 3 years, the Cotswold Edge & Severn Vale Tourism Network, with representatives from ‘under the Edge’ and ‘in the Vale’, including Berkeley, Cam/Dursley and Wotton, has been collaborating with Parish, Town and the District Councils, local businesses and attractions (such as Berkeley Castle, Cattle Country and Slimbridge), to work mutually to attract a greater number of tourists. To help with this work, following my proposal, Stroud District Council Community and Services Committee agreed to allocate £2,000 to 7 district towns, including Dursley, Berkeley and Wotton under Edge, to help fund various aspects of tourism. Also, as part of the Market Town Initiative Funding, the District Council have also allocated £40,000 to both Dursley and Wotton under Edge, to help improve their town centres, such as the provision of better toilet facilities, cycle racks and electric car charging points etc, which will make them more attractive to visitors.’

Cllrs Ken Tucker and George Butcher, District Councillors, Wotton Ward (Lib Dem)