Oswestry could get £500,000 to breathe new life into historic town

If successful the majority of the fund would be spent on essential repairs to historic buildings, developing educational projects to turn the sites into community hubs, and helping increase skills shortages in areas like stonemasonry as well as developing tourism.

Shropshire councillors will be asked at a cabinet meeting on November 18 to the go ahead for officers to work with Oswestry Town Council and the Business Improvement District to develop a submission for funding by December 3 which could mean even more money for the projet.

Future Oswestry, a group of representatives from Shropshire and Oswestry Town Councils and Oswestry's Business Improvement District, led the push for funding.

A report to the cabinet meeting says the Oswestry High Street Heritage Action Zone represents a significant opportunity for Shropshire Council to secure a share of the £95 million that Historic England has been allocated to support transformational projects for historic towns and high streets.

Director of Place, Mark Barrow, said: "The object of the fund is to make the high street a more attractive, engaging and vibrant place for people to live, work and spend time."

He said the programme was designed to secure lasting improvements to historic high streets and the communities who use them.

Major

If successful it would mean Oswestry would get a grant of at least £374,600 from Historic England for the four year life of the programme.

But he said that Historic England had asked that the bid that it received be upscaled and could mean a total grant of £500,000.

If that was not a success the £374,600 would be a major fund for the town.

"This would provide for the full costs of a project officer, 50 per cent of the proposed physical grants programme of £300,000 and 50 per cent of the £100,000 cultural programme," Mr Barrow said.

Matched funding for the cultural programme would be provided by the around £12,500 per year the local community raised for its heritage open days.

"Shropshire Council and its partners would therefore need to find a total of £150,000 match funding over the four year life of the scheme to make up the physical interventions grants programme," Mr Barrow said.

He said there was a strong indication that Oswestry Town Council could offer a substantial proportion of that match funding however if that was not forthcoming Shropshire Council would need to review its ability to fund this from its capital programme.