Kingston has won more than £2m of investment funding from The Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund.
The Outer London Fund is a part of a major package of investment which aims to boost local high streets, deliver growth and new jobs as a part of the Mayor’s £32m regeneration funding.
Kingston’s Town Centre will recieve £2,012,590.90 for a series of projects within the town. This is the largest single award won amongst the 80 bids submitted this year.
The award will focus on improving the following projects:
Ancient Market Area Project: In the heart of the town centre, the aim of the project is to expand its historic identity, raise the area profile, and develop the space to be a heritage and culture space for the town’s future. The project aims to promote the town as a retail area and increase the night time economy. A public consultation process has been taking place for the past year with architectural designs to follow.
All Saints Church Project: The church was awarded a grant of £899,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to go towards a project, although the lottery support, a further amount was still needed to fulfill this project. The Outer London Fund’s support will now enable the project to go ahead in August 2012.
Creative Youth Project: Outdoor performance space will be created with the conversion of the car and loading bay at Bishop’s Palace into performance space as a part of the International Youth Arts Festival for 2012 and 2013.The area aims to provide a home for young performance companies and international touring artists.
Kingston First Project: Destination management system and web portal was established for the Town Centre as a part of the first round of funding. With a successful second round bid, the funds will be used to enhance the digital capabilities of the Town Centre as a visitor hub. The Kingston Council will closely work with Kingston First to develop the project which includes introduction of Tourist Information Kiosks, used in combination of a mobile phone application will direct people to businesses within the town centre and the surrounding attractions.
Councillor Simon James, Executive Member of the Sustainable Place said “We are very delighted with our success. The substantial amount of funds will help us to revitalize the Kingston Town Centre. This will benefit those who live, work and visit the borough.”
However, the bid to improve the streets of the three neighborhoods- Surbition, Maldens and Coombe and the South of Borough was unsuccessful.
Councillor James said further “Even though the fund is going to help us achieve our vision to enhance the attractiveness and economic viability of The Kingston Town Centre, we are disappointed that the bids for the other parts of the borough were unsuccessful. But we will continue to bid for investments in all these areas.”
For more information about the council’s bid, call the Customer Contact Centre on 020 8547 5002
