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Projects to receive cash boost to create jobs and training places and help seaside towns attract visitors all-year round.

The UK’s only Grade 1 listed pier is one of 8 projects to receive a cash boost to create jobs and training places, and help seaside towns attract visitors all-year round, Communities Minister Mark Francois announced recently (5 March 2016).

Clevedon Pier is one of 8 projects to receive a share of an additional £800,000 from the government’s Coastal Communities Fund.

The projects are to be given the extra funding to help continue work that will create jobs, attract investment and boost the local economy.

Other projects include one of the oldest charter markets in the country, the restoration of an historic passenger ship, and the repair of a much-used rambler’s coastal path following recent damage.

Communities Minister Mark Francois said:

We’re determined to unlock the enormous potential of our Great British Coast.

Over the past 3 years we’ve already funded more than 200 projects along the shorefront – from piers and promenades to shop-fronts and sailing centres – to attract tourists, boost jobs and create vibrant local economies.

Now this extra £800,000 will help put another 8 coastal communities back on the map and kick-start their own exciting regeneration plans.

Reviving seaside economies

The government is committed to helping seaside communities create vibrant economies to create jobs, attract investment and boost the local economy.

The other projects that received funding recently were:

• Kirkleatham Catering Academy in Redcar and Cleveland who will receive an extra £200,000 to provide training places and apprenticeships for the community and deliver 96 jobs.
• Gravesend Borough Charter Market Hall, Gravesend, Kent - will get an extra £50,000 to revitalise one of the oldest charter markets in England.
• Bettheshanger County Park visitor centre, Kent will receive an extra £175,000 to create a sustainable energy visitor centre which will showcase sustainable technologies and products and promotes east Kent’s coal mining heritage.
• South West Coast Path, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset – will receive over £130,000 to repair, improve and promote the South West Coastal Path. It will deliver 500 jobs across the south west by the end of the year.
• Waldringfield flood defence group, Suffolk – will receive almost £100,000 to regenerate and cultivate the local salt marsh – a biologically diverse environment – protecting 70 jobs and adding another line of important sea defence.
• The coastal cruise vessel MV Balmoral, Bristol - will receive an additional £52,000 to ready the ship for its return to service in May. The Balmoral, which can take up to 600 people around the south west coast, was originally built in 1949 to ferry passengers between Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
• The Goodwin Development Trust, Hull – will receive an extra £34,000 for business start-up support which will create 70 new businesses supporting 115 new jobs.
• Clevedon Pier Heritage Trust Ltd, Somerset – will receive an extra £75,000 for essential renovation works to reinstate the UK’s only Grade 1 listed pier and enhance the visitor experience.

South West Coast Path, Thurlestone Sands, Devon

Further information

The Coastal Communities Fund is financed by the government through the funding equivalent of 50% of the revenues earned from the Crown Estate’s marine activities in England and the devolved administrations.

Launched in 2012, the Coastal Communities Fund has invested over £120 million on 222 projects, including local infrastructure and economic schemes around the UK. It is creating almost 12,400 jobs and providing more than 6,000 training places and apprenticeships.

As part of the government’s efforts to revive seaside communities, it has also created a £3 million Coastal Revival Fund to help communities restore cherished iconic heritage sites which have suffered years of disrepair.

It also created 118 Coastal Community Teams, to encourage local businesses, councils and voluntary groups to work together to create a long-term strategy for their community.

Details of a future bidding round for the Coastal Communities Fund will be announced later this year.

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