As part of the Council’s approach to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a degree of funding was prioritised to support further improvements to our key village centres and high streets.
Following an appraisal of the district’s key village centres, the following projects are now live or planned to be delivered before the end of March 2025.
- Public car park improvements
- Shop front grant for businesses and property owners
- High street business support programme
- Destination marketing campaign
- Good Food and Drink Guide
An allocation of £200,000 has been made available to be delivered before 31st January, 2025. £100,000 will support capital projects with the remainder being available to support revenue projects.
The Council is now seeking applications aimed at bringing the village centres to life, increasing footfall and improving accessibility. In principle, projects will be considered which meet support the following objectives:
- Strengthening social fabric and fostering a sense of local pride.
- Improving physical, cultural and social ties.
- Improving amenities, community infrastructure and green space.
- Building resilient and safe neighbourhoods, through investment in spaces and innovative approaches to crime prevention.
- Improved accessibility.
Proposed Application Criteria
- The Funding will be open to a range of public and private organisations including parish councils, voluntary organisations, businesses and other representative constituted organisations.
- Funding for projects is limited and will be prioritised to proposals that contribute the most to improvements to village centres and high streets, including better accessibility for disabled people, including capital spend and running costs.
- The project must be located within one of the district’s recognised village centre/high street areas.
- The project must be completed with all expenditure paid for and evidence provided to the Council by 31st January, 2025.
Example of Potential Projects
Capital
- Permanent public realm improvements, such as landscaping.
- Improving pathways for pedestrian and wheelchair access.
- Investment in infrastructure support for local community groups.
- Projects to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.
Revenue
- Temporary improvements to public realm, such as public seating, picnic benches, sheltered seating and planters.
- Decorative improvements.
- Funding for events such as festive activities, cultural or heritage activities.
- Impactful volunteering and/or social projects.
- Village centre clean up projects i.e. to remove graffiti, litter pick projects.
- Investment and support for digital infrastructure for local community facilities within the village centre.
Funding
- The minimum grant amount available will be £1,000.
- A maximum funding limit has not yet been set. However, we are keen to support as many eligible projects as possible with the £200k allocation.
- It is expected that applicants will provide an element of match funding for projects (e.g. 40% for businesses and 30% for other organisations), however community applications with less or no match will be considered.
Applications for this fund must be submitted before Monday, 14th October 2024.
Please fully read the applicant guidance before submitting an application.
All applications for funding must be submitted online using Apply4online. If you have not used Apply4online before, you will need to register an account before continuing with your application.
For support please email UKSPF@sstaffs.gov.uk
