TOWN CENTRE EXPERIENCE FUND
The Town Centre Experience Fund will open on Friday 28th April 2023.
This will be a rolling fund and will remain open throughout the year until the budget is expended, at which point the fund will close for applications. There will be assessment points throughout the year, contact the Council’s Town & Village Management Team for advice on when the next assessments will take place. This will help you plan your project to ensure that grant-aid is awarded in time.
The Town Centre Experience Fund will provide funding to support local town and village centre based retail businesses or organisations, to create, develop or support experiences and initiatives to assist in creating vibrant and sustainable town centres. The project will open for grants, up to a maximum of £2,000, and groups of traders/town centre stakeholders will be encouraged to work together to introduce new experiences, initiatives, activities, marketing or event development.
The Town Centre Experience Fund is aimed at the 12 towns and villages of Ballymoney, Ballycastle, Ballykelly, Bushmills, Coleraine, Cushendall, Dungiven, Garvagh, Kilrea, Limavady, Portrush and Portstewart. It’s about bringing different ideas together and developing cohesive thinking around activities which can improve the town centre experience. These could be commercial, community or cultural experiences which will contribute to the vibrancy of the town centre and generate more engagement in the town. This funding will support local businesses/organisations to create a new experience for their town centre. Groups of traders/town centre stakeholders are encouraged to work together to introduce new experiences, initiatives, activities, marketing or event development for their respective town centre and encouraging them to target times of the year outside the usual peak times. The sustainability of the retail sector across our towns is important to the town centre offer, and the pandemic has increased the need for additional experiences within our town centres. This grant will provide funding to develop initiatives to assist in sustaining and encourage visits to our town centres.
The Town Centre Experience Fund can provide funding of up to 100% costs up to a maximum of £2,000. Match funding is not a requirement. Applicant businesses/organisations must be in a position to pay for items and claim the money from Council retrospectively. This is a competitive process and all grant awards will be determined on the basis of merit. Applicants are advised that organisations that have been successful in securing Council funding in the past will not automatically be guaranteed funding in the future. Council reserves the right to reduce the amount of funding awarded if we do not consider that the amount applied for represents value for money or if there are insufficient funds available to meet the request.
You may find it helpful to discuss your project with a member of staff within Council’s Town & Village Management Team before submitting your application: Catrina McNeill Tel: 07517 988161 Catrina.mcneill@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk
For detailed guidance notes and to apply for this grant go to https://causeway.eformz.info/