A few words about Evesham from Chris Brooks, Regeneration Manager at Wychavon District Council:

THE Vale of Evesham is a fantastic place to live, work or visit!

Those of us whose job it is to promote the Wychavon District tend to say this all the time, but where is the evidence?

Well, lets start with some statistics. In Evesham, the unemployment rate is 2.4%. We can't afford to be complacent, but economists tell us that anything below 3% is effectively full employment.

This is one of the reasons why local growers and producers recruit migrant workers to support local agriculture. And support it they do - Wychavon District Council recently carried out some research showing that the economic impact of migrants in the Vale is overwhelmingly positive.

Productivity is up and growers are able to find new outlets for their produce, particularly with high value crops such as asparagus.

And thinking of asparagus, the recent festival in Bretforton showed the huge interest in the crop, and the accompanying national media was excellent!

Visitors have also flooded into Evesham for the balloon festival and the Eastern Festival, and will hopefully continue to do so for the River Festival, the Angling Festival and all the other activities that are taking place over the summer. Pershore's Plum Fayre of course coincides with the Angling Festival, and many people travel on the shuttle bus between the two!

Of course, it is harder for some parts of the economy than others. Retailers face significant challenges, which is one of the reasons why the Evesham and Pershore Market Town Partnerships support festivals and other activities in the towns. We want to see people visiting Evesham and Pershore and supporting local businesses.

For future investment, it is significant that the Wychavon Local Plan will have been adopted by the time you're reading this.

This is the 'policy of policies' that will have a bearing on all developments in the District in the coming years.

It will mean more investment in places like Vale Park, bringing more quality jobs into Evesham.

If you want to know more about this, and would like to have a say in how the Plan is implemented, you can get in touch with Wychavon's planners to contribute to the Local Development Framework on 01386 565135, or see the Council's website at www.wychavon.gov.uk.

Further investment is coming to Evesham with the prestigious Abbey Lane office development and, looking further ahead, we hope to see high value and high tech jobs coming to the former airfield at Throckmorton, near Pershore, in the future. The present is bright, the future is bright - the Vale of Evesham really is a great place to be!