LONDON BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM
MEDIA RELEASE: 5 July 2012
MR104

Local groups apply for second round of Portas Pilot funding

A second bid has been submitted for Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill to win Portas Pilot Town status and a share of available regeneration funding. Last year retail guru Mary Portas was commissioned to carry out an independent review of Britain’s failing high streets. The government subsequently allocated a fund of £1.2m to 12 pilot towns to test the recommendations made in the review. Towns from across the UK were invited to bid for the funding, with the 12 successful bids being selected in May this year.

A second round of Town Teams are due to be selected at the end of July and this time there will be £1.5m in funding available for a total of 15 towns, in addition to £300,000 allocated by the GLA for 3 London towns.

The Town Team for Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill have worked hard over recent weeks sharpening their initial bid for submission by last Friday’s deadline. The bid was supported by Lewisham Council, which would take responsibility for managing the fund if the bid is successful.

Councillor Chris Best, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: “We are very excited about this revised bid, which has brought people together to devise innovative ways of rejuvenating our high streets, including new street markets, start-up opportunities for new businesses and creative exhibitions. A lot of local people have worked really hard on this application and I hope their efforts will be rewarded with a successful bid.”

Ed Holloway of local architects Beep Studio, one of the members of the town team developing the bid, said: “We have used the time between the bids to evolve ideas that were put forward in the initial bid. I think the result is a much stronger bid which includes some exciting initiatives that we feel will be the catalyst for regeneration.

“We have taken a holistic approach in bringing the three high streets together in a cohesive way. We aim to create a string of destinations that are complementary, harnessing the distinct and unique character of their individual offers under a shared vision.”

The revised bid includes plans to create two community hubs in high street shops renovated for exhibitions, business workshops and creative community engagement; the letting of 12 vacant units to a mix of businesses and organisations as part of a large scale ‘pop-up’ project; and the initiation of a series of subsidised pilot markets with incentives for local traders across Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill.

The Town Team hopes to hear by the end of July if the bid has been successful.