EVERYTHING in Wantage and Grove - from youth clubs to bus stops - has come under the spotlight in a new report.

Up to 40 volunteers spent three years examining facilities and infrastructure in the town and village in a bid to come up with ways to improve them in the Wantage, Grove and District Health Check - Draft Action Plan.

The team looked at the town and village centres, cycleways, footpaths, public transport, the natural environment and youth and leisure facilities before drawing up the plan.

And, before the plan is finalised, the team wants to hear the public's views on its ideas. Wantage Town Council is urging residents to attend public consultation sessions.

The work on the report has been sponsored by the Wantage Joint Economic Forum, a body set up to revitalise the town and increase commercial investment in Wantage and Grove. Forum chairman Robin Turnbull said: "This is a great step forward. It will help us bring together the resources to improve our local economy and environment."

High on the report's agenda is lobbying for the railway station to be re-opened and a feasibility study into a public transport interchange at the site of the former Wantage Road Station to improve congestion and ease pollution in the Market Place.

Strategies to attract more shoppers to the Market Place and a new youth facility in Mably Way are also listed as top priorities.

The public consultation sessions are being held next Wednesday at the Local Services Point, in Grove Street, Wantage, from noon to 3pm, and at Wantage Civic Hall, in Portway, from 6 to 8pm, and next Thursday. St John's Rooms, Main Street, next to the parish church in Grove, from noon to 3pm and 6 to 8pm. The health check reports are an idea by the South East England Development Agency to improve market towns.