CINDERFORD looks set to be put forward to bid for a share of a multi-million pound scheme to revitalise Britain’s High Streets.

The Forest Council’s Cabinet is expected to put the town forward for a share of the UK Government’s £675 million Future High Streets Fund.

Cinderford’s bid for £2.3m pipped the only other proposal, from Lydney.

The four main priorities for the Cinderford bid are the purchase and refurbishment of the Cinderford Methodist Church, pedestrianisation of the Market Street side of The Triangle, new car parking at the BT Exchange site and the refurbishment of the former HSBC Bank for community use.

Lydney councillors say they are “disapppointed but not surprised” that Cinderford is the front runner.

But it has also been described as “just what (Cinderford) needs.”

The Cinderford bid makes the point that “the town centre actually has the ingredients and potential to be a centre for a thriving private, public and voluntary sector all working for the benefit of the community.”

Town councillor Chris Brown, who was part of the team that put the bid together, said: “It’s multi-faceted, which is a strength of the application.

“Pedestrianising The Triangle makes a bigger community space.”

Among the ideas are creating ‘pop-up’ business opportunities to allow entrepreneurs to establish themselves before moving onto more permanent premises in the town.

But some of the points made in the bid could cause raised eye-brows, including a reference to jokes about in-breeding and being ‘backward’.

That, claims a report that goes before the Cabinet tomorrow (Thursday), is “perpetuated by lack of attainment by children who attend inadequate schools.”

It also claims “widespread” lack of aspiration is aggrevated by a lack of diversity.

That section is about ‘identifying challenges’.

An assessment of the two bids gave Cinderford 20 points and 18 to Lydney.

The Cinderford bid will be submitted to the first round of the Future High Streets Fund.

If it is successful, the Forest will not be able to submit any bids to the second round.

Lydney Deputy Mayor Cllr Brian Pearman said he was disappointed that the town is unlikely to be selected for the first round – but that will not stop them seeking ways of improving the town.

He said: “We were disappointed, but not surprised. Most people will just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘where did you expect it to go.”

“The growth in population here has been ignored. We are going to be nearly twice the size of Cinderford in 10 to 12 years – that should be taken into consideration.

This won’t put us off. If you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the lottery.”

Cllr Alan Preest said Lydney would have benefited from the regeneration cash.

He said: “There are a lot of big gaps in Lydney town centre – there aren’t a lot of big gaps in Cinderford and this is all about town centre regeneration.”

Both said the bids should have been asses- sed by an independent body such as Gloucestershire County Council.