Crowdfunding is about getting friends and contacts to chip-in and pay for a bright idea. Using web-based platforms, Crowdfunding massively extends your reach to like-minded individuals and makes collecting the cash much easier. Crowdfunding Examples Crowdfunding within communities is great for events and activities that capture the imagination and provide benefits for a wide range of people.…
Should you consider Community Shares if you have good idea or simply stick with grants and more traditional sources of funding? What are Community Shares? Community Shares raise money by offering local people to invest in the ownership of a new cooperative venture. It’s not an ‘either/or’ alternative as Community Shares are often used to…
In this third of our series of top town tips created jointly with Chris Jones Regeneration Ltd, we look at what it takes to lead and sustain town centre regeneration through generating the necessary income and investment. Types and Sources of Funding As well as nationally available funding such as the National Lottery and the LEADER Programme, local…
The LEADER Programme provides a total of £138 million in England and £95 million in Wales for rural development between 2015 and 2020. Local Action Groups You can apply to your Local Action Group (LAG) for funding for projects that help local businesses to grow or benefit the rural economy.Towns within LEADER areas defined by DEFRA as…
The changing face of the High Street and the current policy and retail context is considered in detail in this report published by English Heritage (now known as Historic England). It considers what this might mean for town centre regeneration over the next few years. Its case studies demonstrate what town centre regeneration can achieve through an innovative approach…
Good quality local food and independent eateries are part of the distinctive ‘flavour’ that can help set a town centre apart and create loyal customers. The role of local food in is key to town centre regeneration in a way that not only benefits High Street shops and eating places but has a long supply chain of positive…
This new report published by the British Retail Consortium , Retail 2020, sets out how the retail workplace landscape is expected to change in the coming years. It suggests that store closures on UK high streets and town centres could exacerbate the impact on employment in already fragile communities with weaker regions and the most…
The rate of change within the future retail workforce is set to quicken as the digital revolution reshapes the industry, more property leases come up for renewal and the cost of labour goes up, while the cost of technology goes down. These effects could mean there are as many as 900,000 fewer future retail jobs by 2025…
Has going in to town become an unavoidable obstacle course of unpredictable traffic, inconvenient parking and disorientating streets? How can the experience match the apparent convenience of out-of-town retail parks or help bring on-line shoppers back in to town? Getting between the ‘parking lines’ Here we share our experiences in finding simple solutions to town…
Is town centre renewal possible in these austere times? Last week I was lucky to take a one-day tour of Lincolnshire town centres. This taught me lessons and identified issues that have wider meaning for cash-strapped communities in need of renewal. The situation facing rural Lincolnshire town centres like Sleaford, Gainsborough and Boston will be familiar to…