Members of Penarth Civic Society are hoping a unified approach to regenerating the town will bear fruit - and three meetings have been planned starting next month to bring people with ideas together.

In the society's latest newsletter the rallying cry has gone out.

It reads: "Members will be well aware of the number of empty shops in the town, and that the final bank in Penarth will be closing this year.

"Last spring a new group called Penarth Living Streets arranged a series of well attended meetings to talk about ways we can all help.

"We were very fortunate that students from the Masters in Planning Course at Cardiff University undertook research projects in the town and their results were presented to us (and are available for any member who is interested.)

"The Society, together with the Penarth Business Group, Penarth Living Streets and GPG (Gwyrddio Penarth Greening), is determined to take this forward.

"A very successful meeting was held in last Autumn to start to come up with ideas.

"As an example, it isn't obvious to shoppers in the town centre that the seafront is so close, nor is it obvious to visitors to the seafront that there are nearby shops.

"And the lack of banks could be addressed by a 'Banking Hub' – this is something that the whole community could campaign for. It is up to all of us – traders, residents and visitors alike to work together to ensure the continued vitality of our town.

"Three dates have been set for public meetings, so everyone can have their say on what they feel can and should be done, they are all at St Paul's Community Centre, first floor, Arcot Street at 7pm on Wednesday, 1 March, Wednesday, 29 March, and a third on Wednesday, 26 April, we would strongly encourage all our members to attend - or to send us their comments so we can discuss them."