Towns running out of time for £1m town centre rejuvenation scheme

The Government will split the funding between 12 towns that it selects to pilot various ways of rejuvenating and developing local high streets. The deadline for applying to the scheme is 30 March. The schemes will run while the Government considers what its policy on the development of high streets should be.

The Government commissioned a review of UK high streets by television retail expert Mary Portas. It reported in December and recommending running town centres like businesses by strengthening the management of high streets through new 'Town Teams' and by developing the Business Improvement District (BID) model and encouraging new markets.

The review also looked at the business rate system and how it could better support small businesses and independent retailers and how to encourage affordable town centre car parking and other opportunities to remove red tape on the high street.

The Government said it will respond to the review in spring but has said that 12 towns should trial the ideas contained in the report in a series of 'Portas Pilot' schemes.

Hundreds of towns across the UK have submitted bids to become one of the pilot schemes including Burnham-on-Sea; Berwick-on-Tweed; Warwick and Whitehaven.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps ran a nationwide series of roadshows which were backed by the Association of Town Centre Management which included Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) experts providing advice on the preparation of bids.

Bidding teams are invited to submit a video explaining why their high street should be chosen as part of their application. The Government has published a prospectus outlining its requirements for the projects.

The Government expects to announce which towns have been successful in May.

"Whilst we still await the Government's full response to the Portas Review, this interim funding competition has led to considerable creativity and innovation in those towns that have submitted bids," said planning law expert Jon Riley of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. "The funding pot is relatively modest, so a clear route for delivering tangible improvements to is going to be key to successful bids."