Oswestry businesses urged to bid for High Street Heritage Action Zone funding

A call has been sent out to local businesses following Oswestry’s successful bid to Historic England to become a High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ).

The HSHAZ project is part of the wider regeneration project, Future Oswestry, which is made up of representatives from Shropshire Council, Oswestry Town Council and Oswestry Business Improvement District (BID) and promotes partnership and collaborative working.

As a result of the successful bid, the HSHAZ project is welcoming applications from businesses situated within the Conservation Area of Oswestry for two funding streams.

Oswestry businesses are being urged to apply for funding

The first is focussed on restoring shop fronts and the other is looking at repurposing vacant shops into a mixture of uses such as workspace, retail and restaurants on the ground floor, with residential units above.

For successful bids the grants will pay up to 60 per cent of the work costs.

The project will help shopowners to enhance both their own business and also improve the way the town looks.

Samantha Jones, Shropshire Council’s Oswestry HAZ Project Officer, said:

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the retail outlets for Oswestry. This grant will enable shopowners to enhance their shop fronts making them more appealing to customers and the town of Oswestry or help them to find new ways to bring into use empty properties such as accommodation.”

Mayor of Oswestry, Councillor Duncan Kerr, added:

“It is really pleasing to see the launch of this fund, it’s positive news. I am encouraged that there is significant interest in this specific programme and also that a number of local businesses are investing in their town adding to Oswestry’s rich and vibrant independent traders.

“Oswestry Town Council are match funding Historic England’s grant, investing £75,000 from the Smithfield Capital receipt directly into the town centre. I hope that there is lots of interest and I would encourage people enquire and to express an interest.”

For further information on the grant and an expression of interest form can be obtained from OswestryHSHAZ@shropshire.gov.uk

Further information

About Heritage Action Zones 

Historic England is working with local people and partners through grant funding and sharing our skills to help breathe new life into high streets that are rich in heritage and full of promise – unlocking their potential and making them more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors. The High Streets Heritage Action Zones scheme, backed by government funding, aims to help with the recovery of local high streets from regenerating historic buildings to helping to engage local communities through art and cultural projects.

About Historic England

We are Historic England the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s spectacular historic environment, from beaches and battlefields to parks and pie shops. We protect, champion and save the places that define who we are and where we’ve come from as a nation. We care passionately about the stories these places tell, the ideas they represent and the people who live, work and play among them. Working with communities and specialists we share our passion, knowledge and skills to inspire interest, care and conservation, so everyone can keep enjoying and looking after the history that surrounds us all.