Historic High Street Fund winners revealed

The government has announced 69 schemes across England will win a slice of the £95m fund to restore historic high streets.

Culture secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed on Saturday (July 14) that £92m will be provided by the government and overseen by Historic England to create 69 new High Street Heritage Action Zones.

A total of £14.3m will go towards projects in London and the South East, while the South West gets £13.7m, the East of England gets £7m, the Midlands will receive £21.1m, North East and Yorkshire receives £17.2m, and the North West gets £18.7m.

The fund has been funded by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport’s Heritage High Street Fund, with £52m from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Future High Street Fund.

In addition, £3m will be provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a cultural programme to engage people in the life and history of their high streets.

All the successful projects can be viewed via Historic England’s Google Map.

They include one in Tottenham, where £2m will be used to restore historic shop-fronts and facades in the commercial heart of the High Road with the aim of increasing economic vitality to boost regeneration in the area.

In Bedford up to £2m of funding will be used to reveal the historic features of buildings across the high street, reducing traffic and bringing the wider community back into the area.

And Plymouth has successfully bid for £1.99m funding for regeneration works, education projects and community events to help boost the local high street’s heritage buildings.

‘Our nation’s heritage is one of our great calling cards to the world, attracting millions of visitors to beautiful historic buildings that sit at the heart of our communities,’ said Ms Morgan.

‘It is right that we ensure these buildings are preserved for future generations but it is important that we make them work for the modern world.

‘This £95m will help breathe new life into high streets all over England, benefiting businesses, supporting our much-loved buildings and helping to make our communities more attractive places to live, work and visit.’

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