IDEAS have been pouring in from enthusiastic Five Valleys residents keen to have their say on the future of Stroud.

Over the past three weeks the SNJ has been running a questionnaire in conjunction with think tank Project Stroud to discover how people would like to see the district develop.

Project Stroud was set up using a Government grant to find out how residents would like to see the town changed in the future.

During the summer the Project Stroud team have been travelling around fetes and other events gathering views on everything from employment to the environment, from tourism to transport.

This week the SNJ looks at the results of its own mini-survey and full responses will be passed on to Project Stroud.

The hot topic was, perhaps predictably, public transport with a huge number of responses to the queries on buses.

A new bus station was top of the people's wish list with many people wanting improved links to the surrounding villages.

In terms of employment most people wanted priority to be given to local people when vacancies came up.

Responses on questions about changes to the town centre were a mixed bag but most seemed keen on a wider variety of shops and improvements to the town's shabby-at-the-edges appearance.

Tourism seemed a turn-off to several respondents and some did not even bother completing that section of the questionnaire while those who did had varied views.

Car parking was another hot potato, with almost everyone calling for better parking and many adding that they wanted it to be free, not only for their own benefit but to encourage people to spend more time in the town.

Affordable housing to buy and more small houses and flats to rent were top of the requests on the housing front, with a desire to see empty buildings brought back into use running a close third.

The results of the SNJ survey will now be passed on to Project Stroud to help it draw up a comprehensive document of what people do or do not want. This will later be used to try to lever in cash for specific projects in the town.