The Goole Town Deal programme has launched a £4million Property Activation Fund grant scheme to encourage developers, property owners, and tenants to make improvements to buildings in Goole town centre and bring empty or under-used sites back into use.
The Property Activation Fund aims to make the town centre a more attractive and appealing place to invest in and do business by restoring, refurbishing and, ultimately, reinventing buildings that are empty, under used or in a poor state of repair.
A total of £4.175 million is available to help transform buildings and sites within the town centre and will be allocated to applicants in three different size brackets – small (up to £20,000); medium (£20,000 to £314,999); and large (above £315,000).
Funding is available to businesses, charities, voluntary sector organisations, learning establishments and public sector organisations in several postcode areas within the town centre. Full details of the eligibility criteria is available in the Property Activation Fund Guidance Document, which will be made available to prospective applicants.
More information is available via email to goolepaf@eastriding.gov.uk. They will then be able to complete an Expression of Interest form, outlining details of their business/organisation and the project that they’re seeking funding for. The information provided will be subject to a series of checks to ensure that the business and proposal are eligible. Once this has been confirmed, eligible applicants will then be invited to submit a full application, using the Guidance Document to help them.
The Property Activation Fund team will also be attending and arranging further events in the Goole area during the coming months, details of which will be widely publicised to enable as many local property owners as possible to go along and find out more.
Andrew Hewitt, Regeneration Project Manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “There are two stages to the application process and the first of these is a really quick and simple Expression Of Interest stage. Eligible applicants will then be asked to submitted a full application, which will be appraised by the delivery team and then considered by the Property Activation Fund Investment Panel. Both stages of the application process can be completed via the council’s online Flexigrant Portal.
“We’ll be looking to allocate grants of various sizes to sites and premises within the eligible postcode areas as part of our aim to regenerate Goole town centre, finding new uses for sites and creating new attractions to boost footfall and fuel economic growth.”
