Tamworth Blog

Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity have been added to the line-up for the Midlands Music Festival which takes place in the Castle Grounds next Saturday (August 8).

They will perform alongside the likes of Sugarbabes, JLS and Blue at the open air music festival being held in support of the Just 1 Life Charity.

Tickets are still available for this event from the Tamworth Information Centre and Ticketmaster.

Tamworth Athletics Club will be holding Athletics coaching each day next week (August 3 thru August 7) for children aged 8 to 15 years old.

The sessions that run from 10am till 2pm will give children the opportunity to learn and take part in different athletics events including sprinting, long jump, javelin, hurdles, race walking and even the pole vault.  It is a perfect opportunity for children to take part in events that might never have tried before in a controlled and supervised environment.

The cost for the entire week is £35 per child, or you can pay £7 per session (minimum of two sessions).  All equipment use is free of charge and each child who attends will receive a goody bag and t-shirt.

If you would like to register your child for these coaching sessions, contact Catherine Pendlebury on 07866 464 567 or visit the Tamworth Athletics Club Website.

Ventura Park Tamworth - Pic: Chris B

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Christopher Pincher has expressed his concern over the proposed changes to planning rules that will reduce the powers of Tamworth Borough Council to control out-of-town retail development like Ventura Park.

These new changes will come in the form of new national planning laws that will see the local council having to observe the new rules when they are assessing new applications.  The biggest change is too the “needs test” which requires a developer to prove the need for new out-of town developments.

Christopher Pincher said of the changes:

“The rewriting of the rules which protect against excessive out-of-town retail development threatens to undermine the vitality of Tamworth’s historic town centre. Our Council needs the discretion and power to halt reckless out-of-town expansion and promote town centre regeneration. We need to redevelop the Precinct, Middle Entry and St. Editha’s Square to attract the town’s shoppers not build more and more around places like Ventura.

“I am concerned that his plans will hit small retailers and worsen the problem in our town centre which should be a great place to shop.”

The proposed changes come this week after British Retail Consortium found that some 12% (1 in 10) town centre retail units are now empty.  This obviously doesn’t include the numerous pound shops that seem to be opening in town centres including our own.

The consultation exercise found that the event that the changes would lead to more out-of-town developments and undermine any regeneration plans, which would include the plans for Upper Gungate.