Who will win Ottery's £17,000 for sports provision?

Residents of the parish of Ottery St Mary are being invited by EDDC and Ottery St Mary Town Council to vote for how they would spend £17,300 available for sports provision.

The projects that get the most votes will be delivered and the good news is you don't have to be 18 to vote, as kids get a vote too!

The parish of Ottery St Mary is anywhere covered by Ottery Town Council, which includes Tipton St John, Wiggaton, West Hill, Alfington, Escot, Gosford, Fenny Bridges, Fairmile and Metcombe.

You can vote on Friday 7 November at the Ottery St Mary Street Market, Mill Street, Ottery St Mary, from 10am to 12pm or in the foyer of Sainsbury’s in Ottery St Mary, Hind Street, EX11 1BW from 3pm to 6.30pm.

The money has come from developers who have built new homes(Section 106 funding) in the parish. For every home built developers must contribute some money towards sport and play and the parish of Ottery St Mary has accumulated £17,300.

East Devon has the groundbreaking approach of letting the communities themselves decide how this money is spent. The same process run in 2010 gave the Ottery St Mary skate park some funding and created the outdoor gym in the Land of Canaan.

An appeal for ideas earlier this year produced a range of suggestions from Ottery St Mary residents, organisations, voluntary and community groups. Residents are now being asked to choose between all those that were eligible, possible and affordable.

These include a petanque playing area, a sports activity wall at Winter’s Lane, improving the batting conditions and safety of players at Ottery Cricket Club, football goals for Ottery Youth Football Club for their youngest players and an automatic watering system for Ottery Bowling Club. The proposal(s) with the most votes will get the go-ahead.

All people voting must be present at the event itself. Residents of any age can vote whether they are aged 5 or 95, as long as they live within the area covered by Ottery Town Council.

East Devon will be making sure that the final vote is representative of the actual population of the whole town and all age groups. This may mean further voting events need to take place to allow more residents of certain ages or locations to vote.

The district council's Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Iain Chubb said: “We are committed to making sure that local people have their say about where money from developments in their town gets spent. We’ve had some great suggestions. I would urge residents to put the date in their diaries and come and vote. The projects that get the most votes will happen - so you really can make a difference”.

Cllr Glyn Dobson, Mayor of Ottery St Mary, said: “Once again there is an opportunity for residents  to vote on suggestions made by groups in the Parish. I do hope as many people of any age will come along on the day to vote for the project they would like to see delivered.  A councillor will be there to help with any questions”.