THERE is hope at last for a site that has blighted Studley for the previous 12 years.

At a recent Stratford-on-Avon District Council meeting councillor Hazel Wright asked for the full council to request the cabinet examine the potential for a solution to improve the Co-op site, on Barley Mow Island on Alcester Road.

It included a promise that funding requirements are part of the budget making process for 2016/17.

Out of the whole council only one councillor failed to support her.

It is now in the council's corporate strategy which is the four yearly business plan of the council - it means officers have to make a plan of how the council will deal with the boarded up site and money has to be set aside to carry that plan out.

Coun Wright said: “I have been persisting for many years and at long last it has paid off. Studley deserves better than a derelict site in the middle of the village spoiling the character and appearance.

"Succeeding in getting the council to take these steps is a big relief.”

Later this month the councillor will talk to another committee about her concerns, as well as residents' and the Parish Councils' ideas about what should happen on the site.

She said she favours compulsorily purchase, because that way the community would have a say in how it is developed.

Coun Wright added: "The vision for the centre of Studley, outlined in the submitted core strategy, is that a key challenge facing Studley is the need to enhance the image of the village centre so that it becomes a more attractive place to visit and do business.

"How can this possibly happen when the Co-op site remains an ugly blot on the landscape. What can be a greater disincentive to investment, than a future investor that gets no further than Alcester Road."