£13,000 investment project to improve parade of shops in Tonbridge

A parade of Tonbridge shops is getting a facelift as part of a borough-wide programme to spruce up town and village high streets.

The majority of the seven retail units in Railway Approach have been empty for some time and have fallen into disrepair. The project, starting this month, will focus on removing old signage, repainting and using vacant shop windows to promote community events. The works will also see flower planting at the rear of the buildings.

The £13,000 project has been agreed with the shops’ owners, The Arch Company, which has longer term plans to improve the parade. The work is being paid for from local business rates and a grant from the European Regional Development Agency (ERDF) [see notes].

This latest investment follows the announcement that £200,000 of ERDF-funded improvements will be made to town centres across the borough to welcome shoppers and tourists back as pandemic restrictions ease.  

Cllr Vivian Branson, the council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration, joined fellow councillors on Friday 6 August to kick off the project by tackling an overgrown  planter and clearing pavements in neighbouring Barden Road. 

Cllr Branson said: ‘Railway Approach is a key entry point to the town and I’m delighted that we can do something to improve the look of these shops and surrounding area. We will continue to work closely with the Arch Company on its plans for bringing the units back into use as commercial units.’

Tristan Wheeler, The Arch Company’s Head of Regional Asset Management, said: ‘We are pleased to be working with the council to make some improvements to these units. We took on responsibility for their management in early 2019 and found them to be in a seriously dilapidated state and in need of considerable investment. We will keep the business case under review with a long-term aspiration to return them to use.’

End

  • Business rates retention funding: The business rate retention system was introduced in April 2013. Councils retain up to half of the rates revenue raised from businesses in their local area, with the remainder retained centrally by the government and used to provide grant funding for local authorities.
     
  • Welcome back funding: TMBC’s ‘Welcome Back’ project is receiving £200,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

Published: Wednesday, 11th August 2021