£5m Boost for Borough High Streets.

£5m Boost for Borough High Streets.

The new Council fund, highlighted as part of its four year plan, will support a range of schemes to help boost high streets into key towns in the borough including Dawley, Ironbridge, Madeley, Newport, Oakengates and Wellington.

The money will be used to support a range of capital schemes to help improve the look and feel of these town centres and help attract more visitors, shoppers and businesses.

The funding will be available from 2020 until 2022 and the Council will be engaging with organisations in each town to help identify how this money can be best used.

It will build on a range of recent Council initiatives such as the Pride in Our High Street, Telford 50 Legacy Fund and Community Pride Fund which have already invested more than £4 million into community regeneration and improvement schemes.

This includes bringing back empty shops into use, 50 buildings receiving façade improvements, improving public spaces, memorials and heritage assets and supporting local groups to co-invest bringing more footfall into town centres across the Borough.

These funds have been key for example in supporting the new Orbit arts cinema and cultural centre in Wellington and the refurbishment of the Anstice in Madeley, which is due to re-open next year. The investment has been nationally recognised with Wellington shortlisted for a national High Street Rising Star Award.

Council leader Shaun Davies said: “This new £5 million fund will provide more support across these key areas and will be built into our budget for the next two years.

“It will be vital that we first engage with and listen to representative and business groups in these towns to help identify the most effective ways we can use this funding to boost high streets.

“For example we may be able to use this to support other bids and unlock much more support or may be better spent on specific schemes such improvements to infrastructure or transport.

“Essentially no decisions will be taken until we have listened to local views. We will begin this process in the new year to identify each area's priorities and plans to implement these.”