A BID for funding to help re-vamp a Herefordshire town has failed - but Kington Area Regeneration Partnership has vowed to stand up and fight!

Chairman of the Partnership, Bob Widdowson, said members felt their efforts to regenerate the town had been 'sabotaged' after funding was refused by Advantage West Midlands (AWM).

Seventeen months of discussions and three rewrites to meet outlines set out by AWM proved fruitless when the Partnership was told by letter last week they 'failed to meet the criteria'.

"Grants from various agencies have also been jeopardised unless other matched funding can be found," explained Mr Widdowson.

He fears many of the 15 projects already in the pipeline - some of which are underway - will have to be terminated and secured funding from the European Union may have to be returned to Brussels.

The scheme was launched two years ago by Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who included Kington in the first round of the Government's, Market Town Initiative.

The aim was to provide over £300,000 to launch the scheme, which was to be matched with funding from Europe and AWM.

Mr Widdowson said: "Our renewal plan has taken almost 10 years to develop, it is community led and fits with everything the Government wants to achieve in regeneration.

"When John Prescott backed it we thought we were on our way but AWM has blocked us. We will not allow that to happen. In short, Kington wants its money - now!"

Neil Skitt, spokesman for AWM said the decision was made by its partner, the Rural Regeneration Zone Board and not AWM itself.

Mr Skitt continued: "AWM established the Zone two years ago. We provide it with funding - this year it has £6.5 million to spend. But how that money is spent is decided by local people involved in the Zone and its Board.

"In this case the Zone Board has drawn up a list of schemes which will receive funding next year. Kington is not on that list.

"However, AWM is keen to stress that the door is not closed on the Kington project. We are working with local partners to assess if there are other ways of taking the project forward."

The Partnership has received support from leader of the council, councillor Roger Phillips, and Leominster MP Bill Wiggin who is making representations to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Widdowson added: "There are two things that come to mind: one is the transparency behind this. It is not good enough for AWM to say it is not their decision.

"The other is the quality of the advice we have been given over the nature of the bid."