Camborne Town Deal is celebrating the success of a scheme to transform the appearance of Camborne town centre, with all funds now allocated to over 50 businesses.
Over £220k of funding has now been given out as part of the Project A-Void scheme – a project giving grants to established and new Camborne businesses allowing them to undertake repairs and renovations and improve the look of the town centre.
In total, 54 businesses, employing over 150 people locally, received grants. Project A-Void is currently closed for new applications – but interested businesses can still register their interest for a proposed second phase of grants.
Anna Pascoe, chair of the Board of Camborne Town Deal, said: “The interest in Project A-Void was huge and we are delighted to have been able to help so many Camborne businesses. This will have such a positive effect on our town centre, giving a much-needed boost to lots of high street properties.
“Project A-Void was set up to give a new lease of life to the town centre, and these grants mean that businesses can start making big improvements. We’ve been able to help business owners to afford changes that might not otherwise have been possible.”
The scheme proved popular as soon as it was launched in October. The Town Deal Board had set March 2021 as a goal for sharing the funds – but applications have been flooding in and the entire pot of money, standing at £221.5k has been allocated to businesses eight weeks ahead of schedule.
The average grant award stands at £3,750. Project A-Void grants were open to owners of existing businesses, as well as to local entrepreneurs planning to open a new business who need support with refurbishment costs to make their plan a reality.
Some businesses have chosen to add the funding grant to their own money, in order to undertake larger scale projects – with £172.5k in matched private funding also being committed by the applicants.
The project was funded from a pot of accelerator funds released by central government as part of their £3.6 billion Towns Fund Deal. £750k of advance funding was awarded to the Town Deal in an announcement earlier this year, allowing work to start immediately on some regeneration projects.
The project has been run and managed by Camborne BID.
Camborne Town Deal received over 900 responses from local residents and businesses in response to a survey canvassing for opinions about what was needed to make Camborne a better place to live and work.
A key theme emerging from this feedback was the need to improve the appearance of the town centre. Project A-Void was set up in direct response to this community feedback.
Camborne Town Deal Board was formed this summer to identify and implement projects in the town that will help build a prosperous future through innovative regeneration. As one of 101 towns throughout the UK to be selected for the Government’s Towns Fund Deal, Camborne submitted a bid for £25 million of funding at the end of January.
A second phase of Project A-Void grants was included as part of this bid, aiming to help more Camborne businesses if the funding bid is successful. Businesses can register their interest in a second phase here.
