Thanks to Andrew Turner’s office for sharing this news with VB readers. In their own words. Ed
The Island’s MP, Andrew Turner, has warmly welcomed the launch this morning of the Coastal Communities Fund, set up by the Government to assist coastal communities to grow local economies and create job opportunities.
£23.7m allocated by Government
The Government has initially allocated £23.7m for the forthcoming financial year and will be looking for expressions of interest as early as next month.
It is expected that grants will be in excess of £50k and all projects will have to demonstrate good use of community assets (physical, natural, social, economic and cultural) to promote sustainable economic growth and jobs.
“Real opportunities for the Island to benefit”
Mr Turner said, “There are real opportunities for the Island to benefit from this new fund. It is not just another pot of money for local authorities and public bodies. The Government wants charities, voluntary and community sector organisations, social enterprises and private sector companies to come up with imaginative ideas to create jobs and put in bids for this money.
“I hope a good number of strong and creative bids will be submitted from the Island so that we get a fair share of this money; I will be happy to give whatever assistance I can to those who wish to get involved. Mark Prisk MP, the Business Minister, visited the Island last month and also encouraged local businesses to take advantage of this new opportunity.”
Projects that would be considered
Some examples of projects that would be considered are :
- Supporting skills and training initiatives to improve job prospects of local residents and encourage additional new businesses
- Maintaining and developing specialised tourist infrastructure, including support for new green tourism opportunities
- Managing and adapting to flood and coastal erosion risk, and managing pollution risks associated with the coast, where this supports local economic development
- Supporting social enterprises to bring new economic opportunities and jobs to coastal towns and make best use of local assets
- Offering apprenticeships to school leavers which incorporate key skills and a technical certificate
- Creating new workspaces to support and grow local economies
- Building community capacity to boost local approaches to promoting enterprise and economic regeneration in coastal areas
- Supporting small-scale and sustainable transport improvements.
Document with more detail is embedded below for your convenience
Image: TaxBrackets.org under CC BY 2.0
