Town centre funding for Covid-19 recovery projects
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Town centres will benefit from £2 million of funding to support the recovery of local communities as coronavirus (COVID-19) measures are gradually and carefully eased.
The Towns and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Resilience and Recovery Fund is open to local authorities as well as community and development trusts, chambers of commerce and town centre partnerships to address immediate concerns.
It will help finance emergency recovery projects such as:
digital markets and virtual high streets
online local jobs and volunteering platforms
open for business guides and maps
physical distancing street markers and one way systems
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “The coronavirus crisis is having an unprecedented impact on every high street and town centre as we take measures to supress and control the spread of the virus.
“As we carefully ease out of lockdown it is vital that we support our local communities to safely reopen our high streets and recover from the social and economic impacts of the pandemic.
"The steps we take to rebuild our economy and restore our town centres must be flexible and adaptable to allow them to respond quickly to any future changes.
“This funding will support the implementation of new measures for town centres, addressing immediate concerns and assisting in the recovery and renewal of local communities. This is also an opportunity to consider the future of our towns. We want to support them to be greener, healthier places where business and social activity thrive and their recovery is an important part of our ambitions on social renewal, as we work towards reducing poverty and disadvantage.”
BIDs and towns organisations will be able to access at least £1.7 million of the Towns and BIDs Resilience & Recovery Fund directly through applying to Scotland’s Towns Partnership. The remaining funding will be used for data analysis, communications and the development of a national media campaign.
The Fund will be open for applications from towns organisations on Monday (June 15). Information on how to apply will be available on the Scotland’s Towns Partnership website.
The £2 million Towns and BIDs Resilience and Recovery Fund is in addition to the £1 million BIDs Resilience Fund announced in March. To date, 37 operational BIDs have now successfully applied for COVID-19 BIDs Resilience and £995,000 has been awarded. BIDs will be able to access the new funding from September when the £1 million BID Resilience Fund expires.
