It’s not unusual for most community groups to cease meeting during the summer months – many people like to take a bit of a breather to refresh themselves before coming back to the fray in early September. However, as regular readers of this column may recollect, I have suggested previously that regeneration is like painting the Forth Railway Bridge – it’s a never-ending task. Accordingly, many of our sub-groups have been working assiduously over the past few months moving their agendas forward.

In July, the Youth Sub-Group began considering how to improve the provision of youth club facilities in Boroughbridge, following the request by the local primary school that the club vacate their premises from the late Autumn. This is due to continued pressure on the primary school from increased demand for school activities. We are delighted that capital funding for a new youth club is a real possibility and aspirations for a dedicated facility may be met, if not fully, certainly with more sustainability than current provision; colleagues from North Yorkshire County Council, Connexions, Boroughbridge High and others are to be congratulated on the teamwork demonstrated.

We are meeting with the consultants, who have carried out the feasibility study into the proposed Arts and Business Forum at Aldborough in a few weeks, when their findings will be presented to the Executive Committee and other interested parties. This is a long-term project, which will require major levels of funding, and our hope is that the consultants, Right Angle Management, will help point us in the right direction for the next stage of this initiative.

Our Walks Group have met to consider the tenders received for providing Interpretation Boards and Signage for the circular walk planned from Westwick Lock to Aldwark Bridge and along the north bank of the River Ure back to Westwick. We’re now targeting businesses local to the Walks area to support the initiative by sponsoring some of the boards. I’ll profile the successful tenderer and what will be provided in one of my future columns.

But the main success of this summer has been the decision by Harrogate Borough Council to support a joint initiative by Renaissance Knaresborough and ourselves called Improving The Visitor Offer. It aims to enhance the appeal of Boroughbridge and Knaresborough by providing funding for physical improvements to the townscape and environment in the form of new street furniture, grants to business owners to improve the appearance of their properties if they wish and also training and skills development for employees involved in providing services to visitors to each town. The project now moves to Yorkshire Forward for their scrutiny of our Business Plan at the end of October and if all the hurdles are crossed, both towns stand to gain funding of around £1.2million, which is probably the biggest injection of public money in both towns for some years. My thanks go to the Regeneration Team at HBC and Boroughbridge Chamber of Trade, who have championed the property grants amongst the local business community. Now it’s just fingers crossed!