By James Simons-
Sixteen successful ‘Fast Track’ projects are receiving a share of £6 million Coastal Communities Fund money to help deliver sustainable growth and jobs across the Great British Coast.
As part of the fifth round of the Coastal Communities Fund, 16 ‘ready to go’ projects have been selected to commence work to transform their coastal communities in 2018 to 2019 before the main round funding becomes available in April 2019.The chosen projects range from a community arts project in South Shields to heritage boat tours in Falmouth’s historic docks. Early forecasts indicate that they will create over 1100 jobs and are set to attract public and private sector co-funding of £2.4 million. News of the mass funding is good and there are many more worthwhile projects that will be putting in for necessary funding to improve prospects in their area.
Eligibility for this kind of funding is determined under a tight criteria in which applicants or those chosen have demonstrated the skills and expertise to deliver the project in hand. Added factors to credibility include credentials and past records of successful projects. In some cases, first timers are able to receive funding if their project is credible and has high prospects of improving economic growth and creating jobs.
On a visit to one of the ‘fast track’ winners, Disability First “Access Fylde Coast”, Coastal Communities Minister, Jake Berry MP, said:
”It’s really exciting to see money from the Coastal Communities Fund help kick start these shovel ready projects, which have the potential to unlock the barriers to development and growth in our coastal communities.
Investment in our seaside areas, through projects such as these, will provide nothing short of a New Deal for the Great British coast, creating thousands of jobs, training places and opportunities along the shore.
Disability First, “Access Fylde Coast” will receive almost £1 million to boost tourism by improving the visitor experience for people with disabilities visiting the Fylde, Blackpool and Wyre coasts. The project includes training courses for local businesses to support people with disabilities, organising new events and creating trained volunteer access guides. Other game-changing projects set to benefit from grants include:
an almost £500,000 grant to support the local creative economy in Margate High Street with a state-of-the-art Fabrication Laboratory providing technical skills training, business planning and support for local creative businesses and professionals
a £900,000 grant to the Scarborough Construction Skills Village project to help tackle local unemployment and skills challenges. Funding will support local residents into new apprenticeships and jobs in the construction industry, particularly in micro and small construction companies
a £60,000 grant towards a project to refurbish an industrial landmark building – St Hilda’s Pit Head in South Shields – transforming it into a community, cultural and heritage hub providing training, office, event and exhibition space
The Coastal Communities Fund was established to support coastal projects in the UK deliver sustainable growth and jobs.
Since 2012, the Fund has awarded grants to 295 projects across the UK, totalling over £173 million. This has helped to start almost 500 new businesses and create more than 7,000 jobs – with these figures set to more than double once the projects that are already underway are completed.
Applications submitted for Round 5 of the Coast Communities Fund are currently being assessed. The successful main round bids of the remaining £34 million are expected to be announced by early 2019.