Do you own a historic building in Tewkesbury?
Owners or agents of historic buildings within the Tewkesbury High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) can now express an interest in receiving grant funding to help restore and repair shopfronts and convert vacant upper floors for residential use.
The grants are available as part of Tewkesbury Borough Council’s successful bid to Historic England’s £95m HSHAZ programme. The programme aims to regenerate historic high streets throughout England, enhancing the appearance of the street scene and improving the overall high street experience for residents and visitors to towns.
Two lists of eligible properties on Tewkesbury High Street, Church Street and Barton Street – one for shop fronts and another for upper floor conversions – have been compiled and can be checked at tewkesbury.gov.uk/hshaz.
To raise awareness of the grants available and of the wider HSHAZ programme, a ‘Regenerate the High Street’ public event will be held in the Anglo-American Memorial Gardens in Tewkesbury (behind the Town Hall), on Saturday 18 September between 10am and 1pm.
Tewkesbury Borough Council’s lead member for built environment, Councillor Mel Gore, said: “These grants provide a fantastic opportunity for owners of historic buildings on Tewkesbury High Street, Church Street and Barton Street to play a direct part in restoring local heritage and encouraging more residents and visitors to Tewkesbury. I would urge anyone with a property on these streets to contact the council to discuss the support available to sympathetically restore these historic properties. We want the funding, along with the ‘Regenerate the High Street’ event, to be a catalyst for positive change for the High Street Heritage Action Zone, as well as for other high streets across the borough.”
Ross Simmonds, Acting Regional Director at Historic England South West, said: “This is an exciting moment for the Tewkesbury HSHAZ as we start to invest in the town’s historic fabric. This new grant scheme is a great opportunity for property owners to get expert advice and financial support to help them tackle building repairs. We hope many will come forward and find out how the scheme can help them.”
Those attending ‘Regenerate the High Street’ will be greeted with several stalls populated with experts in traditional skills, local heritage and funding. There will be interactive demonstrations and advice about carrying out work on historic buildings, as well as information about the grants available through the HSHAZ scheme. Other stalls will provide information on the Local Heritage List and the ‘tree ring dating’ of historic buildings. There will also be a display of historic photographs, interestingly comparing buildings in the town years ago with how they look today. For more information about the event, visit: tewkesbury.gov.uk/news/tewkesbury-high-street-regeneration-event
To express an interest in the grants available through the HSHAZ programme, please visit tewkesbury.gov.uk/hshaz
About High Streets Heritage Action Zones
The High Streets Heritage Action Zones is a £95 million government-funded programme led by Historic England and designed to secure lasting improvements to our historic high streets for the communities who use them. 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. https://historicengland.org.uk
