Alton SRB
In 1994 the Government began offering grants through The Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) to provide funding to areas of severe need. Each year a new round of grants for a widening circle of need was available and in 2000, SRB5 became available in Staffordshire Moorlands for a 6 year period to help local communities with their most pressing needs. On 6th July 2000 a Public Meeting was held in Alton to see if there was any interest in applying for SRB5 grants for the Village. As a result of the enthusiasm at the meeting and the willingness of people to be involved, the SRB action group was formed (24 people), and Alton (and 17 other parishes) set about tapping into this Regeneration Budget to improve the village.
In order to get any grants a number of things had to happen. The first was that an action group had to be formed with an agreed constitution. Secondly that group had to create an action plan that expressed the hopes of the people in their community. Thirdly each village had to have a village agent (this been Dave Scrivens since 2001). His job was to help the SRB group with advice and information. Fourthly a questionnaire had to be drawn up and sent to whole village so that an appraisal could be made of what people wanted most. That appraisal makes interesting reading and included an amazing variety of different projects that were suggested.
The matter of greatest concern was what would happen when Dr Vin Webster retired. The SRB group contacted the Primary Care Trust and the idea of a new Health Centre for the Village was born. The only suitable area for building was situated at the back of the village hall, and, although this would be slightly detrimental to the use of the field, it was thought that since a Health centre would benefit everyone in the village that it was justified. From then on the Parish Council, as custodians of the Village Hall, became involved due to the need to arrange sale of the particular area of land. The Health Centre Project was completed in 2006. Alton is now fortunate to have a state of the art Health Centre/Doctor’s Surgery where Dr Brown and his staff can look after our health needs.
In 2000 we had an excellent Village Hall, but all felt that improvements were overdue. Through the efforts of the SRB group, drawing now not just on SRB Grants, but any grants that could be found from other bodies, many improvements have been made to the Village Hall including, the heating system, CCTV surveillance, sports equipment, and many items for the Playgroup.
Another area we undertook to improve was the village entrances which had either never been developed or allowed to degenerate. Grants were obtained through both local & national sources & the three stone plinths with mosaic inlays were produced. Planting up of the main entrance on Denstone lane was also undertaken. To see a photographic record of this project click here
It has always been hard to keep up with the standards required of Play Areas and the first one was created by the village hall committee back in 1990 They, with the help of many villagers, not all of whom were associated with the village hall, built what was then a modern, safe area for the children of Alton to use. However after 17 years it was in need of regenerating & this was achieved through liaison between the current Village Hall Committee & the SRB Group using grants obtained in the region of £65,000.
Setting up of the website is one of our greatest achievements, getting more and more attention with over 40,000 hits each month. It is supported by an increasing number of the businesses in the village, including the most comprehensive list of holiday accommodation available in and around the village anywhere on the web, together with most of the pubs and restaurants, and it is their donations which help to pay the ongoing expenses of running and improving the site.
Grants were also obtained to start a special event at Christmas based on the Roundhouse. If you haven’t been to one of our “Christmas at the Roundhouse” events then you have missed a treat. They have been well supported, averaging over 200 people attending on the night. This Christmas will be our fifth year with the procession from St John’s to the roundhouse starting the evening off, carols & seasonal songs continue the theme then plenty of mulled wine, soup & other goodies keep the whole thing buzzing.
The Alton SRB is a group of volunteers who are trying to improve things in our beautiful
village through projects in and around the village. SRB5 funding ended in 2006, but
somehow the name has stuck. Now we are called variously “The SRB Group”, “The Regeneration
Group” – perhaps the full title should be “The Alton SRB Regeneration Group”. The
fact is we have realised what can be done in the village, and there is grant money
out there -
