Ramsgate has been allocated £2,704,213 of Government money, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced today (December 26).
Ramsgate is one of 72 areas across England that will benefit from the £830 million Future High Streets Fund to improve the high street, as well as protect and create more jobs.
The investment, which is provisional and needs to be finalised, aims to
The fund is to enable the delivery of ambitious regeneration plans and new local projects such as improvements to transport infrastructure, new homes and the transformation of underused spaces.
South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay MP said: “I’m constantly working to ensure Ramsgate receives its fair share of government regeneration funding, combined with private, heritage-led regeneration.
“Retail is changing, not least because of Coronavirus and the resultant surge in online shopping. High Streets need to become places of leisure, entertainment and enjoyment; a place to visit in their own right, because, shopping incentive aside, they are great places to be.
“Coastal towns like those in our South Thanet constituency are well placed to find this new role aided by the spending power of visitors and tourists. We are well placed to ride the wave of employment and economic success.”
Ramsgate Town Council clerk Richard Styles said: “Ramsgate Town Council is very pleased that Ramsgate might be getting a substantial investment in its infrastructure. This will be the first time in over two decades that Ramsgate has received any investment of this sort.
“The Town Council and the Coastal Communities Team will want to see that the projects paid for by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are expedited quickly and efficiently in the ‘shovel ready’ manner required and promised by the applicant.
“This award -if we get it – is but the first stage of a substantial investment process that will be needed to restore the local economy and to give it some resilience. We know this to be true, because Margate has received a total investment that may amount to as much as £150million over the last two decades. Hastings, Blackpool, and other coastal communities have also received similar or larger amounts.
“The House of Commons public accounts Committee noted the allocation of the much larger Towns Fund, where towns like Ramsgate missed out. We hope that the MHCLG will resolve this lacuna, quickly, in a fresh round of town deals.
“What we will want to show is that the MHCLG and any other grant funders, can have confidence that Ramsgate has viable ideas, proposals, and shovel ready schemes, that are worth investment to the magnitude received by Margate.
“Currently, Ramsgate is a net contributor in cash terms rather than a recipient over a very long period, unlike most other coastal communities; and this has a price in terms of its economy and the town’s resilience to adverse events or trends.”
Communities Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, said: “The year ahead will be a big one for the high street as it seeks to recover, adapt and evolve as a result of the pandemic. Today’s £830 million investment from the Future High Streets Fund is one of many ways the Government is working to help our much-loved town centres get through this and prosper into the future.
“The role of high street has always evolved. We want to support that change and make sure that they are the beating heart of their local community – with high quality housing and leisure in addition to shops and restaurants.
“This investment will help us build back better and make town centres a more attractive place to live, work and visit.”
