A smorgasbord of activity this week from the council as, even though we approach the middle of summer, there is no let-up in our activity!

First the fun stuff - on Saturday as part of our Summer in Shepton programme, the Shepton Mallet Big Build, a completely free family event in Collett Park, takes place.

Young people and families in Shepton will have the opportunity to build the temporary play spaces of their dreams!

Run by the Woodland Tribe – an organisation promoting adventure play, they bring along building materials, hammers, nails, saws and teach kids how to put up temporary structures.

The professional staff will closely supervise everything so it's safe while being fully immersive and fun.

It's open to anyone over the age of five but to manage numbers, please book via Eventbrite on the town Council website or Facebook page.

Then, on Sunday, Shepton plays host to a pop-up Little eat:Festival in the Market Place.

The market will be full of food and drink, showcasing 20 local producers with family-friendly entertainment also provided on the day.

Come along to the Market Place from 10am to take in all that this exciting pop-up market has to offer!

Now the long-term stuff - much has been heralded of so-called "levelling-up" recently. Not many people really know what it means, but what we do know is that central government is making money available for local communities to help with post-Covid recovery and economic changes.

As part of this process, Mendip District Council has commissioned a substantial "Masterplan" for Shepton that is identifying our strengths and opportunities.

Councillors had first sight of the draft last week and we will be meeting shortly to discuss how to take it forward and just as importantly, how to make sure everyone in town has the opportunity to provide their feedback.

Over the years there have been many pieces of work to propose how to improve our town but very often they have had limited effect.

At least with this, we can use the Masterplan to bid for levelling-up funding and hopefully reap the benefits. Watch this space with regards its progress and how to contribute.

Remember, we also have our own Town Council Town Plan which we are diligently working through and using to plan our current activity. You can find this on our website.

Talking of contributing to town council activity, we have now re-started in-person meetings and whenever we make decisions, our meetings are open to the public. The schedule of our meetings is available on our website.

Most are held in the council chamber at Shape Mendip but last Tuesday saw us use the newly renovated library for the first time.

We plan on initially filming all our meetings then posting onto YouTube and eventually live-streaming them.

Finally, if you want to contribute even more to council life, there is a vacancy on the council that will be filled by election on September 8. The deadline for nomination papers to be filed is August 11.

If you would like to consider joining the council, please contact any councillor who can explain how it works. Again, all details are on our website.

Until next time.

Matt Harrison, Chairperson