Great Yarmouth Borough Council has agreed grants totalling £52,000 to improve town centre frontages over the last 18 months – and businesses and social enterprises are urged to apply soon if they wish to secure some of the remaining funds.
Under the Town Centre Shopfront Improvement Scheme, eligible applicants can ask for grants of up to £3,000 to help fund shopfront renovation, decoration, new signage and/or replacement of historic features, in Great Yarmouth town centre.
Through five funding rounds over the last 18 months, the council has approved 23 grant applications totalling £52,360, including £19,840 during the last funding round alone, helping to accelerate and unlock investment in frontages.
With only £16,000 now left in the grant pot, eligible businesses and social enterprises are encouraged to get in touch soon, or risk missing out on a grant. Applicants must cover at least 25 per cent of the total cost themselves.
The scheme supports the council’s wider Town Centre Masterplan, which aims to enhance the historic town centre for the 21st century as a destination where more people choose to live, work, invest and spend their leisure time and money.
One recent successful applicant is The Bag Shop, in Regent Road, which was granted about £1,840 to help replace shopfront signage and fit large entrance doors, as part of a wider investment that has seen them completely refurbish and fit out their new base.
The Bag Shop was one of the businesses displaced by the major fire at the indoor market, during August 2016, and has kept operating on their stall on the two-day market, returning to Regent Road this spring when a suitable unit became available.
Co-owner Alan Pitt said: “Things are going really well. Without the grant, we would’ve probably just had plain doors and we wouldn’t have been able to afford to have the branding. That makes a big difference, especially when people are walking down the street. I would highly recommend the grant scheme. It’s a simple process, the council staff have been very helpful, and it has enabled us to do things we wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.”
Another successful applicant is Gillian Harwood, of London-based Lewes Workspace Ltd, which is planning to renovate, as a business hub, an empty historic building in Queen Street, at an estimated investment of more than £100,000. The council has approved up to £3,000 towards suitable and costed improvements to the building’s façade.
She said: “We are very pleased with this most welcome grant. We hope that our investment in Great Yarmouth will encourage both exciting new businesses to grow and existing businesses to enjoy the facilities too. We are very impressed by the hard work and vision of the borough council in their improvement plans and, hopefully, we can show what can be done to make a difference.”
Cllr Barry Coleman, chairman of the economic development committee, said: “We have seen some really great applications from a range of businesses, and the grants have made a genuine difference through incentivising private sector investment and supporting our wider work to boost the town centre and economy for everyone’s benefit.
“Through this scheme, I am particularly pleased the council has been able to further help some of the businesses which were affected by the major fire, and also to support exciting aspirations and works at some historic buildings. While we still have some money left in the pot, we encourage eligible applicants to submit their forms as soon as possible to avoid missing out.”
Application forms, guidance and a map showing the area covered by the scheme are available by visiting www.enterprisegy.co.uk/shop-
The project to save Great Yarmouth’s unique Winter Gardens has been successfully shortlisted to apply to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with the borough council now working closely with a preferred operator to develop the funding application.
The Grade II*-listed at-risk landmark, which has dominated the famous Golden Mile since 1904, is a heritage gem of national significance as the UK’s last surviving Victorian seaside cast iron and glass winter gardens.
Following significant and ongoing project redevelopment, Great Yarmouth Borough Council submitted a successful Expression of Interest to the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Horizons Awards scheme and is through the initial stage of the process.
Redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s 40-year-old Marina Centre is scheduled to start on Monday, February 3, with demolition crews moving in to clear and prepare the seafront site for construction of an exciting new state-of-the-art Water and Leisure Complex.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s once-in-a-generation £26m investment will be a major year-round boost to the economy and community for decades to come, acting as a catalyst for potential further investment, whilst supporting health and well-being across the borough.
The new Marina Centre will create a truly year-round anchor attraction on the Golden Mile, including a six-lane 25m pool with full disabled access and suitable for competitions and galas, a confidence water area and learner pool with moveable floor, leisure water with fun play features, two water flumes and a splash pad.
Updated unique designs have been revealed for the redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s Market Place, a key part of Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s exciting vision to regenerate the town centre.
The investment will see the market facilities significantly improved in the heart of the Market Place, with new units under anarchitecturally-striking canopy, designed to ensure the market is brighter, more inviting and compliments the historic setting.
This updated design has been shaped over the last 18 months, through public engagement around the initial ideas and original design, followed by individual detailed conversations with the six-day market traders.
Great Yarmouth’s recently-restored historic Venetian Waterways have gone on to win two more awards only months after opening to the public.
The £2.7m renovation was led by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, in partnership with Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and with key support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The main works were completed between June 2018 and August 2019 by community groups, volunteers and the council’s main contractor Blakedown Landscapes.
The restoration included refurbishing the Boating Lake and Island Café as well as the Venetian bridges and thatched weather shelters and faithfully restoring the planting scheme. After the successful opening of the Waterways site at Easter, the Boating Lake itself and the Café Island also reopened in August with Community Access Trust managing the concession.
Great Yarmouth Festival of Bowls, the biggest outdoor open bowling event in the country, is getting underway at Great Yarmouth seafront, with some 1,100 bowlers competing over four weeks.
Organised by Great Yarmouth Borough Council and managed by Brian Grint and the Festival of Bowls Committee, this year’s festival is taking place on the Britannia Bowling Greens between Sunday, August 25 and Friday, September 20.
Tournament coordinator Brian said: “This year’s festival looks to be another big year. Great Yarmouth is the UK’s bowls capital and the seafront is the best bowls venue in the country – you can’t beat it for atmosphere, and people come back year-on-year to meet old friends as well as for the high standard of play.
“It’s not just about playing bowls, it’s about Great Yarmouth as a place. The players bring their families and go to the different attractions in Great Yarmouth. Everyone enjoys fish and chips, a cup of tea with a doughnut and you can’t go to Great Yarmouth without having an ice cream.”
