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£3 million fund to regenerate High Streets
Ben Bailey13.08.09
The Government today announced details of a £3 million fund to help regenerate high streets hit by the recession.
The money will be shared between some of England's hardest-hit areas and will allow councils to replace boarded up shops with projects such as art galleries or community learning centres.
A total of 57 local authorities have been given grants worth more than £50,000 each to help prevent their high streets from becoming ghost towns.
Communities Secretary John Denham said: "We know that the downturn has really hurt high streets in areas of high deprivation across England.
"These grants will help to transform and reopen empty shops as part of our real help to keep town centres vibrant and combat the recession.
"Those councils will now be able to use our funding to come up with their own creative ideas to transform their boarded-up shops into something useful like a learning centre, meeting place for local people or showroom for local artists.
"There is no need to see unused shops on our high streets going to waste, especially when we know that it doesn't take a lot to turn a vacant shop into something beneficial for the community."
Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway is involved in a scheme in Gateshead which will see an empty building turned into a business space for local creative industries.
He said: "This is about giving the creative community a helping hand and putting empty units to good use.
"It has the potential to attract leaders and entrepreneurs to Gateshead and give the local economy a boost.
"The creative sector is now one of the biggest drivers of the UK economy and yet there are very few facilities to promote entrepreneurship in this area.
"Nationally we are losing our low-cost start-up opportunities. From Kensington Market in London, where my first company Red Or Dead established itself, to The Corn Exchange in Leeds.
"Places that used to provide low-cost opportunities for independent start-ups in prime positions are disappearing as our towns and cities contribute to the worrying 'Clone Town Britain' label.
"At a time when overseas competition is addressing this issue Britain should start to also address it to retain its creative edge."
In April the Government set out a series of measures aimed a making it easier for local groups to take over vacant stores.
They included speeded-up planning procedures, extra powers for local councils to intervene and standard short-term leases.
Reader views (13)
This is actually counter productive and damaging to artists like myself and existing struggling art galleries who for years have paid the going rate and are now strugling. The art market is just as fiercely competitive as any other industry and all this will do is subsidise those who would otherwise not manage at the expense of those who do.
So instead how about the government and councils forget that £3 million and just give existing high st businesses a rates reduction?
We for example have looked at opening a gallery in London and rents are extremely attractive at £20k but then the greed of councils wanting another £20k or something in rates kills the idea.
Also small businesses would also get a break if the entrepreneurs could actually live at the premises but again councils impose such restrictions on coverting areas of a business property to live.
Level playing field please that is all that is wanted; absurd small businesses are allowed to go bust because they struggle with rates yet corportions regularly get rate reductions if they threaten to pull out.
btw if anyone has a reasonable price commercial property rental on a short term lease in London suitable for an art gallery/fashion boutique with living accomodation at the start I would like to hear.
- David Dent, Newport S.Wales
Just enough for all the crats involved to have lunch!
- Coylum, vancouver, Canada
Ohhh, a whole £3m........Wow!
- Mark Russell, Poiteirs, France
"Hello dear, did you get a nice bit of steak and some veggies from the high street?"
"No, but I did get to view some really ironic art 'installations' and spent 30 minutes learning how to crochet at the Wimmin's Rights Workshop ..... what's for dinner?"
- Paul, London
Jimfred ya absolutely spot on - this is laughable,
- Wallytrader, London
£50,000 per town? Well i suppose that you might be able to refurbish 1 small shop with this sum, or repaint the facias on 3 similar buildings to be let out to charities.
Which idiot thought this one up?
The money would have been better spent on financing 4 apprentices per town.
- John Clifford, luzern, Switzerland
What exactly are these councils supposed to do with the 50 grand? Once the initial consulatation phase is over, they will end up minus the 50K and probably owing a lot more besides! Meanwhile the high street disappears and Nu Labou rhave squandered another £3m - I realise this is small potatos to Gord but nonetheless this is a pointless excercise and will achive the square root of F' all!
- M, London
By "hardest hit areas" does this mean Labour areas? Just a thought. I had also assumed the suffix would be billion rather than million. Three million pounds is what a progressive local authority - or at least a County Council - might think to spend on helping regenerate local business. For a national government to announce such an irrelevant sum is merely to court headlines!
- John, Braintree, Essex
The Labour Master-plan for the future, is to get the infrastructure ready for the boom years to come in the 22 century; this £3 million is only the start of preplanning our city centres; with more job centres, advice centres, charity shops, and self help centres for the jobless and homeless.
Mandy and Brown; feel that as they are rich and famous enough now, and the banks are doing well again; that they should show the electors they need at the next election, that they are kind and thoughtful leaders, of the impotent British Empire they have built for us all that can’t escape to other countries like Scotland and Corfu.
They are trying to imitate other great socialists like Clement Attlee; when he built the welfare state after WW2.
So far Mandy and Brown have avoided Ration Books for the people; something even Attlee could not do in 1945.
We should hold out our hands in humble gratitude to New Labour; as Mandy could have bought another house for £3 million in Richmond Park, which would have saved him walking up Primrose Hill while his dogs crap on the grass; but in his generosity; I feel he has directed that the government use this vast sum of money to be shared across the whole of the UK to regenerate the Nation, and not to be used for MPs expenses or Bankers Bonuses at all.
I feel sure all 20 voters in my family will vote the right way. In fact I know they will.
- Mickinlondon, london.
Tesco's turnover is £1bn a day, yes £1bn. A government report identified Tesco's as one of the main culprits in the degeneration of the British High Street.
So they have donated £3m !!
- Hansel, London
POLITICANS NEVER GET THE POINT. HIGH STREETS ARE BEING KILLED OFF BY CONSTANTLY INCREASING PARKNG CHARGES. EVEN TO VISIT THE POST OFFICE HERE IN REDBRIDGE COSTS AT LEAST 90p. TO GO TO MY DOCTOR ALLOW TWO HOURS, £2.50
THERE IS NO OTHER FORM OF TRANSPORT. IT WAS REPORTED LAST WEEK THAT MANY LONDON COUNCILS MAKE MORE FROM PARKING CHARGES THAN IN COUNCIL TAX. EVEN TEN MINUTES IN MANY BOROUGHS COSTS A FORTUNE.
MAKING MANY HIGH STREETS TRAFFIC FREE AREAS MAKES THEM NO GO AREAS AT NIGHT. I REMEMBER MY SISTER TELLING ME THAT SHE WOULD NOT DREAM OF WALKING DOWN SUTTON HIGH STREET AT NIGHT. WHILE I WOULD NEVER VISIT ILFORD AT DUSK.
NO PASSING TRAFFIC MEANS NO ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE DRUNKEN YOBS.
- Alan Green, Woodford Green
£3 million will not go far once the government creates 100's of non-jobs to monitor the targets set for the money. I doubt whether this will make any difference at all.
- Dannyp, Egham
At the same time,covering the country with Tescos.
3 million is peanuts.
- Jimfred, London Uk
