A new art gallery in Watford town centre is being supported with money awarded by local county councillors.

Artists have begun displaying their work inside a shop that had been empty for the past six months in Charter Place.

And five county councillors have each awarded the Watford Borough Council £150 from their locality budgets to help pay the shop's rental fees.

They are Stephen Giles Medhurst (Central Watford and Oxhey), Derek Scudder (Woodside Stanborough), Ian Brandon (Callowland Leggatts), Mark Watkin (Nascot Park) and Nigel Bell (Vicarage Holywell).

A total of £10,000 is available to each of the 77 members of Hertfordshire County Council to spend on worthwhile community projects in their area.

Councillor Giles Medhurst said: "It is important that we do all we can to help revitalise our town centres and provide practical support for local businesses during these difficult times, so we were each very pleased to provide funding for this imaginative project to bring some colour to the shopping centre and engage the community in such a positive way."

Sophie Ronson, from Watford Borough Council, added: "Dressing or animating shops significantly improves the chance of letting them, and figures suggest that a single artist-led project reopening a vacant shop can measurably increase footfall in a town centre.”