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Published:
September 27, 2006
Burnham-On-Sea
and Highbridge receive big grant cash windfalls
Burnham-On-Sea
and Highbridge were handed a major financial boost on Wednesday
(September 27th) when the towns received thousands of pounds of
grant cash.
 Sedgemoor
District Council is to direct more than £115,000 into our
area after it received a £428,320 Local Authority Business
Growth Incentive Grant.
A
total of £30,000 is being spent on a new shop front improvement
scheme in Burnham, while £7,500 is to be spent on a retail
training scheme in the two towns, and £65,000 has been set
aside to upgrade Burnham's seafront toilets.
Also,
Burnham-On-Sea Chamber Of Trade is celebrating after receiving
£2,500 from the Grants Award Panel for Christmas lights
in the town, and a further £14,000 will also be shared on
festive lights in both Highbridge and Burnham.
Alex Turco, Vice Chairman of Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade,
welcomed the news. He
told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "The Chamber is absolutely delighted
that we will be able to complete the rejuvenation of the Christmas
Light display."
He
added: "Toilet facilities are absolutely vital to visitors
and it is good to know that the seafront toilets will be refurbished."
"We
hope the Shop Front Improvement scheme will also encourage more
businesses to invest in their properties to create a better shopping
environment."
"This
is excellent news and our thanks go to local town and Sedgemoor
councillors and the Town Centre Manager who have worked with us
to get this vital investment into Burnham-On-Sea."
THE
GRANT SCHEMES IN FULL:
| .Burnham-On-Sea
& Highbridge Shop Front Improvement Scheme |
£30,000
 A
report for Burnham's regeneration team, produced by consultants
Ekos, found that a large proportion of premises in the town appear
to be in a poor physical condition and that they are in need of
significant investment.
For
Highbridge, it found that 19% of the retail units were unoccupied
and many suffered poor maintenance and appearance. In both towns
there was a high uptake of Small Business Rate Relief indicating
the low rents within the towns, which results in landlords being
unkeen to invest in their properties.
A
shopfront improvement scheme for both towns will encourage property
owners to make improvements, which in turn would support the regeneration
initiative. The grant will be up to £1,000, offered as a
maximum 50% contribution, on a first come, first served basis.
In exceptional cases, grants over £1,000 will be considered.
The scheme will be administered in close liaison with the Regeneration
Partnership and Burnham and Highbridge Town Council.
| .Burnham-On-Sea
& Highbridge Christmas Lights |
£14,000
 The
Christmas lights in Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge have always
been organised and provided by the Chamber of Trade, paid for
by membership fees and assisted by grants from the Town Council
and Sedgemoor District Council.
Due
to new legislation, it has become necessary to replace all the
Christmas lights – which is obviously a significantly higher
cost than refurbishing each year. The Chamber in Burnham has provided
a new shopping leaflet for 2006 and has other priorities for their
funds directly related to the support of their members.
This,
therefore, put the provision of Christmas lights in doubt. The
grant money will not only provide new lights for Burnham-On-Sea
and Highbridge, but also enable the testing of the lighting columns,
which is now due and which is also required for hanging baskets
in summer. See our related story here.
| .Refurbishment
of Toilet Provision on the seafront at Burnham-On-Sea |
 £65,000
Work
is already underway on the long-overdue refurbishment of the toilets
next to Burnham's Tourist Information Centre and in converting
the use of the facilities at the BARB station to storage space.
Burnham-On-Sea.com
revealed in February
that a review of the facilities was underway amid concerns that
several local public toilets were threatened.
| .Retail
training in Burnham-On-Sea, Bridgwater and Highbridge |
£7,500
 The
aim of this grant money will be to offer bite-size training courses
to independent retailers in Bridgwater, Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge.
The course covers a series of subjects such as customer service,
complaint handling, sales techniques, and each module is around
15 minutes. The courses will be run through Careerfinder who have
developed similar modules for a number of national retailers.
The courses will offer the opportunity for independent retailers
to benefit from similar training to that received by employees
of the nationals, which will enable them to compete more effectively
in an increasingly demanding market. This type of training is
not on offer through Business Link – they tend to focus on
business start-ups or ongoing training funded by employers. This
will also support the aims of regeneration projects in Burnham
and Highbridge.
The news comes as the town waits for a decision on a bid for over
£2.5million of funding from the South-West Regional Development
Agency. This could result in huge regeneration of Burnham's High
Street, Pier Street and Princess Street.
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