PAPER B3
Summary
To report on the current position of the four regeneration projects carried out by this Council to date as follows:
1. The Conservation Area Partnership in Ventnor;
2. The Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme in Cowes;
3. The Heritage Regeneration Scheme in Ryde and;
4. The Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme in Ryde.
To accept the
findings of this report as the current position on the regeneration schemes
undertaken by the Council at this time.
|
Recommendation To accept the
findings of this report as the current position on the regeneration schemes
undertaken by the Council at this time. |
Some Members may recall a brief presentation in March 1997 on the possibility of setting up a Conservation Area Partnership Scheme in Ventnor with the assistance of English Heritage, and a further report on the 2 July 1997 confirmed that agreement has been reached for this scheme, which was to run for 3 years, with a budget of ,50,000 per year, and that the first year would be funded by SRB grant and by direct funding from the private sector including the Town Council Building Preservation Trust and multinational companies. I am pleased to advise that this scheme was particularly successful in that it ran from August 1997 through to March 2002, assisting some 127 properties with a total expenditure over the project life of ,230,000, which with funding from private individuals provided an estimated ,850,000 worth of work within the town.
This project was
undertaken by the Conservation team, with considerable help from the Town Mayor
Jim Ruby who provided on site direction and contact and because of the private
sector funding, English Heritage considered this to be one of their best financially
rewarding regeneration projects in the south of England.
There is no
doubt that a casual walk through Albert Street, the High Street, Church Street
and some of the small periphery streets within the centre of Ventnor, show a
considerable improvement in the quality of repair and maintenance of many of
the buildings, some of which are listed, and particular emphasis was placed on
the shop fronts, given that this would provide the economic re-growth in
Ventnor to sustain the capital outlay on the grants.
Cowes Heritage
Economic Regeneration Scheme.
The Cowes
scheme, based on the success of the scheme in Ventnor was originally set up to
run for 3 years, with matched funding from English Heritage and a contribution
from the SRB in the first year.
Started in
August 2000, the scheme ran until March 2002 with an extension to the original
3 year programme from English Heritage, and this was supplemented by ,5,000 per year
from the Cowes Town Council who were particularly supportive of the scheme
throughout.
Again the
emphasis on the general repairs and the shop fronts to try to pick up the
buildings within the High Street which were either not contributing to, or in
fact were very seriously degrading, the character of the High Street which was
a prime contributory factor in the continuing commercial viability of the town
particularly during Cowes week.
There is no
doubt that this scheme was very successful, there was none the less an emphasis
on repairs to roofs within properties assisted, although three particularly
good shop fronts were totally restored or refurbished, these formed target
buildings in the initial report to Members.
The Heritage
Regeneration Scheme in Ryde followed on from the success of the Cowes and
Ventnor schemes, was directed primarily at the High Street from St. Thomas= Square up to
the traffic lights at St. Johns Hill and this budget was considerably higher
than previous in that a total of ,100,000 grant funding, on a 50-50 basis with
English Heritage was set up over 3 years, starting in April 2000 and running
until March 2003, assisting some 78 properties to date, and with a carry over
for 6 months allowing the scheme to pick up extra funding until the end of
September 2003.
As part of the
scheme set up English Heritage required that the Ryde Conservation Area be
extended up to the traffic lights at St. Johns Hill in order that Conservation
Area status could be applied to the whole scheme, and this was taken to Members
on Tuesday 7 December 1999 when it was agreed to confirm the proposal to
designate the area of the Upper High Street as a Conservation Area and to
abstract this from the overall Ryde Conservation Area calling it the High
Street Ryde Conservation Area.
Given the
emphasis now on the regeneration of Ryde this is one of the first schemes to
identify the value not only of the shop fronts but also of the architectural
style and detailing of the areas above the shop fronts, which contribute so
much to the ambience of the Conservation Area.
Given the
emphasis that regeneration was having on the work of the Conservation section,
it was obvious that the ongoing conservation work, the protection of the listed
buildings, the enhancement and designation of the Conservation Areas, the
advice to members of the public on historic buildings, and the contribution
towards the design issues both within the Conservation Areas and the Island in
general, were becoming too much for the small two man team within the Conservation
strategy. English Heritage offered to part pay for a Conservation Assistant to
help primarily with the regeneration work in Ryde, and this post was filed in
September 2000 and as a direct result of this the team has been able to take on
further regeneration work in Ryde, e.g. the Conservation Area Regeneration
Scheme in the northern part of the town. This scheme has been particularly
effective in the overall regeneration strategy of Ryde, and indeed led to the
fourth and final regeneration scheme undertaken by the Conservation team.
Conservation
Area Regeneration Scheme Ryde. This scheme was again set up as a continuation
of the success of the previous schemes, however in this instance a heavier
contribution from the SRB provided an overall scheme of ,100,000 per year
for 3 years, on a 50-50 basis with the Council. It was considered that this
particular scheme has high value in terms of the quality of buildings in the
Ryde area, it was aggressively marketed by the Conservation team working in the
regeneration programme and even at the earlier stages the visual impact within
the Conservation Area where patently evident. There is no doubt that given the
larger area of the grant scheme there was a much greater response to the grant
offers, and within 7 months of the scheme starting the funding had all been
allocated and much of the work was underway. This continued in the second year
and had the somewhat unfortunate effect of providing considerable amount of
work for the small contracting businesses within the north east area of the
Isle of Wight, putting considerable pressure on them to provide the necessary
estimates and in some cases instigated the employment of further people within
the small schemes to cope with the added workload. This is obviously a very
laudable side issue of the regeneration scheme, but one which has an ongoing
effect on the continuing development and economic progression of Ryde.
The regeneration
schemes are given major support from Members, it is something they can identify
with it gives the Council considerable creditability in the eyes of the rate
payers who feel they are getting some very tangible support to restore their
historic building, and so far as the visitors to the Island are concerned
presents a very clean and well maintained appearance of the town.
Insofar as the
Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme in Ryde is concerned this will continue
for a further year with support from the SRB and will provide funding which will
be able to control the quality of the repairs within the historic environment
in Ryde.
Strategic
Director