Five towns get £20k grants to boost struggling high streets

Five towns in England are to get £20,000 each to help boost their struggling high streets.

The move is part of a pilot to create Community Improvement Districts and will aim to give people and businesses a say in how the cash is spent.

The areas to benefit are Skelmersdale in Lancashire, Hendon in Sunderland, Ipswich, Stretford in Greater Manchester and Wolverton in Milton Keynes.

The five pilots begin later this month.

The project is being led by the Power to Change charitable trust, which was set up in 2015 with £150m from the National Lottery Community Fund, and will also involve community groups and local councils.

The five areas will join Kilburn High Road and Wood Green in north London, which were named England's first Community Improvement Districts earlier this year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The latest figures from the British Retail Consortium revealed visitor numbers to UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks last month remained 12.5% down on pre-pandemic levels.

Jenny Sansom, project leader at Power to Change, said: "We must give communities ownership and a say over their town centres.

"In Scotland, Community Improvement Districts are already reinventing towns. Rolling out this approach in England has the potential to turn the tide on decline."

Stretford's project will explore opportunities for development including a new GP surgery, health and wellbeing facilities and services for families - and potentially a new relocated library.

It will also seek to build on current plans to develop a new market hall within the town's multi-storey car park.

Hendon is one of the most run down and deprived areas in England.

There, the scheme will aim to boost its main high street, Villette Road, in terms of retail and also regarding education, business start-ups, apprenticeships, leisure, healthcare and other services.

In Ipswich, the vision is to create a "connected" town centre where everything is within a 15-minute walking distance.

Meanwhile Wolverton, on the northern edge of Milton Keynes, is aiming to harness an existing cross-sector working group including town councillors, faith groups, local businesses and community organisations to find new ways to boost its high street.

In Skelmersdale, the main focus will be Westgate, a single row of shops, and Digmoor Parade to the east of the town, both of them owned by the local council.

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