Will Goodhand, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, is launching the Guisborough Future Group this week with the aim of creating a plan of action for the town led by residents.
“During the past two years, residents have been telling me that they don’t feel Guisborough is achieving its full potential," Mr Goodhand said.
"Residents feel let down by the Council and I have been working on specific projects to bring back pride in Guisborough.
"In summer last year I successfully arranged for Chapel Beck to be cleared and before Christmas I dealt with a dead pigeon - which had been hanging from the old town hall for months almost as a symbol of Guisborough’s neglect, now I am hoping to bring the town together along with our great local businesses so that we can develop a future vision for Guisborough which we can then work towards achieving.
"There are many excellent voluntary groups in Guisborough who work hard on specific projects such as the Friends of the Cemetery or Guisborough Town Pride and the De Brus Trail project- they do marvellous work and show that residents in the town care deeply about Guisborough and want to do what they can to improve their area.
"I applaud their work and hope that they too will be a part of building a new vision for the town.”
Mr Goodhand has been listening to residents across the town and has already conducted a detailed and extensive survey to see the sorts of things which residents think could improve Westgate.
With more than 1,000 people responding to his survey, 95% think there should be a reduction in rates for independent businesses on Westgate.