Stowmarket Town Centre Shopfront Scheme
Funding to help improve existing premises
Mid Suffolk District Council have launched a new grant scheme open to local businesses based in Stowmarket to apply for a share of £400,000 grant funding to help improve their existing premises.
Priority areas/properties include shops or commercial property in the centre of Stowmarket, including:
- Ipswich Street
- Bury Street
- Tavern Street
- Station Road West
- Market Place
- Wilkes Way
- Crowe Street
Funding priorities
Priorities of the scheme include making vacant units more attractive to new occupiers, enhancing the aesthetic appeal and key frontages within Stowmarket town centre, encouraging increased footfall, and providing a vibrant and mixed retail offer.
The fund will support shop improvements with a focus on high-visibility frontage works, including:
- rebranding shops with new signage
- vinyl graphics and signage
- canopies
- cladding
- accessibility improvements
- lighting
- new windows/doors
- shutters e.g. replacing old external shutters with internal systems (external shutters are not eligible for grant funding)
- external security or reinstatement of traditional or historic features that have been lost
Please refer to the application Guidance Notes for more information on the scheme.
Stowmarket Town Centre Shopfront Scheme APPLY HERE
How Much Could I Get?
The maximum grant is £10,000 per property, which could be increased to £20,000 for exceptional applications.
Each application will have a 40% match funding requirement, which can be decreased in exceptional circumstances. This means you must be able to match any funding that you are applying for with your own funds.
All payments are made at the end of the process; therefore, you will need to fund the project fully by yourself before any reimbursements are made. Funding cannot be used to pay for items purchased prior to the grant being determined.
Important Information
If you are applying for any physical upgrades or improvements that require planning permission or building control permissions, grants will only be approved if the relevant permissions have already been provided.
Please be aware that all applicants are expected to complete the subsidy declaration within the application form
Enquiries in relation to the redevelopment of empty properties should see Stowmarket Gateway Fund for more information.
For any additional queries about this new grant scheme, please email our Economic development team
