{"id":22009,"date":"2019-03-16T16:21:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T16:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=22009"},"modified":"2019-03-16T18:09:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T18:09:45","slug":"buxton-bid-to-675m-future-high-streets-fund-in-move-to-boost-town-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=22009","title":{"rendered":"Buxton bid to \u00a3675m Future High Streets Fund in move to boost town centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"street\"<\/a>Buxton\u2019s town leaders are getting together to set out a bid for up to \u00a32million-worth of funding to help boost Buxton\u2019s high street.<\/h3>\n
image: Buxton,\u00a0Fiona Newton<\/em><\/h6>\n

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The Buxton Advertiser<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

The bid for the Future High Streets Fund comes as figures show the town centre has a shop vacancy rate of 11 per cent – nearly one per cent higher than the national figure. However following the announcements that Marks and Spencer, Santander bank and H Samuel are all due to close, this figure is set to rise. Tony Kemp, High Peak Borough Council\u2019s member for tourism, regeneration and licensing, says Buxton has been hit particularly hard by the departure of such high street names. He and other members of the economy and growth committee will now be focusing on setting out Buxton\u2019s case for a share of the government\u2019s \u00a3650m in funding for ailing town centres.<\/p>\n

Coun Kemp said: \u2018This will not be a massive amount of money but we are a town which has a large number of high street names – unlike other High Peak towns such as Glossop which has more independents. Now we have until March 22 to show there\u2019s a real problem in Buxton. If we get past that stage we will set out a plan for what needs to be done – working with a government task force which offers advice to towns on what funding to apply for.\u2019 He said Buxton\u2019s funding bid stood a good chance of being accepted due to backing from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic England – which have invested more than \u00a330m and \u00a3500,000 in the Crescent development. He said: \u2018Hopefully with their support we should get somewhere. This is completely new so we have no experience to go on – we don\u2019t know exactly what the government will provide money for. But we\u2019re in there to get something for Buxton no matter what is being offered.\u2019<\/p>\n

High Peak Borough Council hopes a successful bid will deliver the following:<\/p>\n