PEOPLE are being urged to get behind a popular market town and vote for it after it was shortlisted in the annual Great British High Street competition.

Yarm High Street has been nominated by Yarm Business Forum in the “Rising Star” category in the competition.

The Rising Star High Street Award celebrates up and coming local communities who are on their way to transforming for the future.

The four areas the High Street will be judged on are: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Environment and Innovation, with the theme of Community running throughout.

Yarm Business Forum co-chair Rachel Dodd and owner of River Shack, said: “ High Streets are the core of our communities and we are so proud that the contribution of local businesses has been recognised, as we all work together to ensure that Yarm High Street is a great place to visit and work.

"We now need the local community to get behind us, they have a very important part to play and can really boost our chances of winning the award, and potentially being crowned the Rising Star High Street of the Year.”

This year’s competition saw 100’s of entries and now the shortlist has been drawn up, Yarm is one of ten high streets up for the award and the public has the chance to vote directly for their best-loved high street online.

Between now and October 7 you can cast your vote at

www.thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk

If Yarm High Street wins, it will get a share of a prize pot worth £100,000 to spend on an event to engage and contribute towards the local community, such as a street party, community initiative or sustainability programme.

Leader of Stockton Borough Council, Councillor Bob Cook, added: “It’s a feather in the cap of Yarm Business Forum – they’re a really positive group of ‘can-do’ businesses, they’re absolutely committed to ensuring the town prospers, and we’re doing everything we can to help them.”

Alongside the public’s votes shortlisted towns will also be inspected by an independent judging panel – made up of industry leaders from across retail, property and business with 20 per cent of the final score decided by public voting.