NEARLY £20,000 has been awarded to Stourport to improve the town - but proposals for how it's spent will have to be vetted by district leaders.

The money will be handed over as part of a district-wide pay out to town and parish councils which will see Bewdley receive £7,500.

Stourport town councillor Reg Knott said the cash could be used to boost tourism in the town, but he stressed any debate on how to spend the grant will have to wait until after the town council elections.

All 18 places will be contested next month.

Mr Knott welcomed the £19,690 earmarked for the town - one-sixth of the town council's annual £120,000 budget.

But he claimed it was "long overdue" in light of what he said was the unfair double charging of townsfolk- by the district as well as the town - since the mid-1980s for the maintenance by the town council of parks, gardens and cemeteries.

And Mr Knott said the town council had proved itself financially responsible and could make its own decisions on how to spend the money.

Town councillors had been "aggravated" by a flippant comment the money should not be spent on a mayoral car, he claimed.

Councillor Mick Grinnall said: "We're members of community elected by the community for the community."

Wyre Forest District Council's head of financial services Keith Bannister said the grants had reinstated direct Government hand-outs to town and parish councils which stopped in 1985.

Mr Bannister added the district council's executive would review all the councils' spending proposals to ensure the money was spent "in an appropriate manner".