Cabinet members at Thanet council have agreed to move forward with plans to buy a Ramsgate town centre property to create meeting rooms, offices, creative studios, café-bar, gallery and arts shop.
At a meeting last Thursday (March 2) councillors gave the green light for property and regeneration directors at the authority to complete negotiations for the purchase of a town centre site within a £1.31million externally funded budget.
The money is allocated out of a £2.7million Future High Street Fund which was granted for Ramsgate in 2020 and secured in May 2021 and the £19.8m Levelling Up Fund granted in 2021.
The aim is to provide more workspace in the town centre for creative industries, bringing an empty building back into use and providing a community hub.
This would include 96 workspaces specifically for use by individuals and businesses in the creative industries sector. The site will also provide a central focal point for creative and cultural enterprise, education, training and community engagement.
A property has been identified, although not publicly revealed, and a valuation undertaken. The next steps will be to make a formal offer, subject to a structural survey and instructing the council’s legal team.
A design team has been commissioned to develop a scheme for the building, in anticipation of an acquisition, with a March 2024 deadline for delivery.
Speaking at the meeting ward councillor Tricia Austin (Green) said: “The proposed employment and skills hub in the town centre is extremely exciting.”
