A project which gives local people the chance to play a key role in shaping the future vitality of Wantage and the surrounding villages is swinging into action.

A Health Check study, which aims to measure the economic health of the market town and its hinterland, and recommend ways to enhance it, is due to be launched next month.

Peter Scatchard, who has been appointed by Wantage's Joint Economic Forum to coordinate the programme, said the success of the project would depend on people from the area getting involved.

The first stage of the study will be to carry out an audit of services, amenities and resources available in the area at the moment, alongside a survey of what residents would like there to be.

Four main areas will be looked at -- environment, economy, social and transport -- covering a range of issues ranging from retail opportunities to leisure provision.

It is likely that an action plan will then be drawn up setting out suggestions of how to plug the gap between what there is and what people want, depending on what funds are available. This may lead to one major scheme or several smaller projects being taken forward.

The health check will focus on Wantage and the area it serves, particularly Grove.

Mr Scatchard, who lives at Childrey and is the former chairman of the Wilts and Berks Canal amenity group before it became the canal trust, said: "This is intended to be a community-led initiative, and aims to involve a broad cross-section of the community to help identify what people want their community to be doing for them.

"It's totally dependent on local people getting involved."

Mr Scatchard said other market towns that carried out similar studies found that the project acted as a catalyst to engage local people and create a sense of identity, pride and purpose within their communities.

Robin Turnbull, chairman of the Joint Economic Forum, said the health check was an exciting project for Wantage, and could help attract funding for projects designed to improve and enhance the vitality of the area. He said a lot of work had already been done to get the project to this stage.

Toby Warren, head of innovation and enterprise at the Vale of White Horse District Council, said the benefit of the project was that local people would be identifying what they wanted to see happen, rather than ideas being imposed on them.