PLANS to invest thousands of pounds in Selby have moved closer to fruition with the creation of a new group for the town.

Selby District Council was allocated £150,000 for the town, and the new group will use some of that, along with £10,000 it was granted as runner-up for the bid to become a Portas Pilot town last year.

The new group will be called the Selby Enterprise and Community Growth Partnership.

James Dunwell, from the Selby Chamber of Trade and Commerce, is on the group and said it was the next logical step for the town team that submitted the Portas bid.

Mr Dunwell said: “It is the next stage on from the town team concept, bringing toghether the Chamber, AVS, college, town and district councils, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust and AMEY. It’s a doing group, if you like.

“There is money kicking around so this is the town team and beyond, that’s now going to go and deliver the projects. We got the company established in October with bank accounts opened and admin and all that, but we are now in a position where it’s established and the money is there so we can start getting out and doing things.”

Mr Dunwell said the new organisation meant the plans which had been made during the Portas submission could finally be put into action, with the first projects expected to be under way within weeks. He said: “There are a lot of projects in the pipeline. We’ve got bids in with the district council for various ideas, but it’s gone from a set of ideas to having a vehicle to go and do something.

“Ideas include developing an official website to raise the profile of the town and social media and getting quotes in for that. Developing an extension of the free WiFi project and looking at online trails and trips around Selby heritage trails, that kind of thing.”

Mr Dunwell said the group’s ealiest projects would help with later suggestions, and the new organisation would be around for a long time. He said: “It’s not a one-off. It’s a self-sustaining organisation that will run and run beyond the initial projects. Hopefully, come the new year, we will start to see some results. I would like to think the website project will be up and running by the end of February and that’s really the first stage because we need communication channels to do the other stuff we want to do.”