Herefordshire towns bid for Town of Culture status

Two Herefordshire towns have thrown their hat into the ring to be chosen as Britain's first Town of Culture.

Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye have both announced plans to apply for the competition which carries a £3.5m award to fund a cultural programme in the winning town during the summer of 2028.

It builds on the quadrennial UK City of Culture award, which was hosted by Bradford this year. The Town of Culture was created so places with a population of 75,000 people or less can also get recognition.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy launched a bid to find the first town to be granted the title, and the funding package with it, in October.

Shortlisted towns will get £60,000 to help deliver full bids.

Ledbury will now set up a "Town of Culture 2028 Working Group" made up of councillors, community representatives and sector experts, to plan, develop and consult on the bid.

Councillor Ed O'Driscoll of Ross-on-Wye East told BBC Hereford and Worcester it was an opportunity to come together and dream big.

"There is such a rich heritage in Ross-on-Wye, it's the birthplace of tourism and we've also got quite an interesting relationship with different towns around the world.

"We're twinned with Condé-sur-Noireau in France and Betzdorf,in Germany and we're just entering into a twinning agreement with Ovruch in Ukraine.

Additional reporting provided by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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