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National charity gives hope to British towns

Hundreds of towns up and down the country have been handed a lifeline by national charity Action for Market Towns (AMT) after they were left disappointed by the results of the first round of the £1.2m Portas Pilot scheme.

Aylsham, Brandon, Diss and Great Yarmouth are among the hundreds of applications for the scheme which was set up by the government to rejuvenate Britain’s town centre’s and high streets.

AMT, based in Bury St Edmunds, has teamed up with the financial support of the Co-operative Group to to help get ten unsuccessful bids off the ground.

Successful towns included Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, Stockport and Wolverhampton but none of the towns in Essex, Suffolk or Norfolk were selected. All of the towns which missed out in the first round of the scheme will be entered into the second round of the competition which will announce a further fifteen pilots by the end of next month.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has told those who missed out on the first round that they should not despair but that they should work on their bids if they wish to submit them again by 30 June.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Francesca Dent .