Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to provide a progress update on the Grantham High Street Heritage Action Zone scheme and summary information on the Academy of Urbanism ‘Great Town’ Award 2022 and the Arts Fund ‘Reimagine’ Grant programme.

 The report was presented by the Leader of the Council.

The Grantham High Street Heritage Action Zone programme was in its third year of delivery and was to run until 31 March 2024.  It was split into two main areas of delivery as follows:

• a capital grants programme

• a revenue funding stream which facilitates staffing, engagement activity, resource building, interpretation projects and cultural activity.

Properties had to be located on High Street, Westgate, the Market Place or Watergate (with a priority on Westgate and Marketplace) and must have been built prior to 1939.  Applicants were required to have the legal ability to accept the grant funding, typically the property owner or their written permission.    There were two projects under delivery through the ‘Key Building’ scheme and six currently being delivered through the ‘Shopfront Regeneration Scheme’.

The single most significant capital project within the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme was the regeneration of Westgate Hall, a grade II listed former corn exchange.  Built in 1852, last used as a night club, vacant for five years and currently in very poor condition.  On 12 July 2022, Cabinet approved a grant award of up to £300,000 for the regeneration of Westgate Hall with a view to bringing the building back into use as a restaurant and the potential to create approximately 30 jobs.  The funding had made it viable for the property owner to carry out works to the building by addressing the conservation deficit on the property – that was the cost required to complete works more than what the property would be worth when the works were completed. 

The impact of rapidly increasing prices resulted in the need to scale down the scope of the schedule of works to ensure the project remained deliverable.  The grant funded elements of work would focus on structural repairs to the building, the reinstatement of historically appropriate glazing, works to the roof and masonry repairs.

The timeline for delivery also provided challenges to the project.  The Heritage Action Zone Programme Manager would continue to work closely with the appointed project architect - and the contractors - to ensure the programme ran to time and coordinated with Historic England as necessary.  Encouragingly, works to the property had now commenced, with the erection of scaffolding having taken place on 30 January 2023.

71 High Street had experienced delays in delivery due to both material and contractor availability.  This resulted in the programme significantly over-running its original completion date of March 2022.  The Programme Manager was working closely with the property owners and the appointed project architect to monitor the contractors progress to ensure the programme of works was completed within this financial year.

There were currently six shopfront regeneration grant schemes underway, and interest was received with regards to a further four properties.  As with the larger key buildings programme, the significant increase in cost of projects resulted in the need to negotiate a change to the original grant programme with Historic England.  Inflation had resulted in tenders for shopfront regeneration projects being returned at two to three times the cost seen in previous years.  Historic England agreed the maximum cap of £25,000 per project could be waived for new projects as long as the grant intervention rates of 60% of the cost of repairs and 80% of the costs of reinstatement were maintained and the budget was not exceeded.  As a result, five shopfront schemes (in addition to 68 Westgate which was an existing project) had been brought forward.

Although this alteration to the grant scheme would result in the delivery of fewer schemes than proposed in the original High Street Heritage Action Zone bid, it had insured deliverable schemes have been brought forward and there had been a significant increase in the level of private sector investment leveraged.  The shopfront projects would generate £185,997 in private sector contributions.  In addition, private sector contributions to 71 High Street (Key Building) would generate £19,923, and Westgate Hall would contribute £100,000 from the property owner and an additional £200,000 – 250,000 in investment for fitout of the property. This gave an estimate of the private sector investment leveraged by scheme as £505,000.

In November 2022, Heritage Lincolnshire was commissioned to produce an updated Conservation Area Management Plan for Grantham to consider changes in national planning policy and look forward at how opportunities generated through the High Street Heritage Action Zone, Future High Street Fund and other regeneration programmes could be developed upon in the future, should additional funding become available.  A draft document was to be completed by the end of March 2023 for consultation with Members and the public as necessary.

Kevin Murray Associates were commissioned to undertake a Community Charette (consultation)in Spring 2022 which asked local residents and stakeholders to participate in the development of a vision for Grantham in 2045.  Over three days, participants joined discussions and activity to highlight their priorities for the town.  Following on from this work, initial discussions were held with the Woodland Trust to build stronger links and encourage their involvement in potential future street greening projects within Grantham.

Over the previous 12 months Grantham Dramatic Society ran a programme of costumed tours which would continue for the remainder of the programme.  The regeneration efforts in Grantham were beginning to garner significant recognition within the industry.  This had included Grantham being nominated for the Academy of Urbanism’s ‘Great Town’ Award 2022 and after a competitive assessment process Grantham reached the final of the awards alongside Inverness and Dun Laoghaire (the eventual winners).

Alongside the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, engagement was underway to support Grantham Museum with their development aims including assisting the Museum Board in developing an application to The Arts Fund ‘Reimagine’ Grants programme.  The Museum were successful in securing £18,600 which would provide for support in building their operational capacity, volunteer development and training, and curatorial support.  The funding would be supplemented by £1,500 from the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme to support public consultation into how Grantham residents and visitors would like to see the museum explore, highlight and present the town’s history.

Members raised the following points during discussion:

·            The schemes encouraged a more harmonious feel.  The Council needed to consider the ‘feel’ of the town.

·            There was concern about rising costs of labour and materials.

·            Were property owners coming forward as expected and was there the need for a waiting list?

·            Were the Chamber of Commerce involved in the process?

The Heritage Action Zone Project Manager confirmed the schemes had been very positive in supporting the town centre and engaging the local community.  There was currently no need for a waiting list as the majority of eligible properties were owned by one organisation.  Each applicant can submit an expression of interest.  Monies were not able to roll from one year to the next and the team were keeping to target.  £60,000 was, as yet not allocated and the Council had to consider the increase in costs of commitments already made.

The Head of Economic Development clarified the property owner had to apply and not the occupier.  People were seeing the value of their property lift.

The Leader of the Council confirmed their attendance at a meeting to discuss collaborative working with the Chamber of Commerce.

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED that Culture and Visitor Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee

a)         Agreed to receive a copy of the Conservation Area Management Plan for Grantham at a future meeting to consider recommendations made within it.

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