A really fascinating opportunities lies in the new BBC1 / Wall to Wall Productions series set in Shepton that started this week. I urge everyone who can, to get involved since the town will become the focus of a national debate about the shameful bully-boy tactics of the supermarket giants, the capitulation of cowed local authorities (like Mendip) and the way our lives have been changed by the roll-out of retail centres and the associated demise of high street businesses. If we get it right, we can make the series (due for transmission from November) be a clarion call for imaginative and intelligent regeneration of Shepton's battered and tottering high street. I want to form a cross party group that uses this one-off chance to expose the rotten way that the town has been conned and pushed around, and tries to find solutions that really will work in the real world. Shepton was a thriving market town that rivaled (and according to many, beat) Bath and Wells in its range of shops and goods just 30 years ago. It's hard to credit that now! The primetime BBC1 TV series is a golden opportunity to confront the iniquities of planning that goes against the best interests of the wider community (in Shepton and countless other villages, towns and cities throughout the UK) where money talks louder than sense or fairness or democracy.
If you wish to get involved in my planned STANDUP4SHEPTON campaign then please contact me and we'll start to make things happen and show that we do really care about this place that we're lucky to live and work in!
Email: Garfield@StandUp4Shepton.com

Cllr. Garfield Kennedy