Town Vitality Fund Bid for St Just

Town Vitality Fund Bid for St Just is being drafted for consideration by St Just Town Council, by Cllr Sue James and members of the Tin Coast Partnership with relevant expertise. Cllr Brian Clemens is making contact with retail and hospitality businesses in the Town so they know what is being considered and how they can get involved or share their ideas.

The Town Council can bid for up to £50,000.

To bid we need to agree to form a Town Team, and the proposal is for that to consist of representatives from the Town Council, The Tin Coast Partnership, the Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group and at least 1 representative each of St Just hospitality (so a pub, cafe or take-away business) and retail (any of the other shops selling goods).

Town Councils can only bid for revenue not capital funding and the purpose has to be to “improve the economic, social and environmental revitalisation of their town centre by making them investable“. Examples of acceptable activities are:

• Feasibility studies 
• Conceptual designs 
• Community/stakeholder engagement 
• Demand studies 
• Targeted research 
• Commissioning of professional/specialist expertise to provide technical advice 
• Bid writing capacity/expertise.

Some early ideas being considered by Town Council are:

• To commission the existing Tin Coast Partnership to focus their communication and information efforts on High Street businesses to research their future sustainability needs and assess how to keep the town vibrant and relevant to residents and community needs.
• To provide an addition to the Tin Coast Partnership planned wifi network (Geo Sense) so we can understand flows of people around our town.
• Some research to find an effective way to reduce car usage; to deliver sustainable town travel plans, building on work of The Tin Coast Partnership and Penwith Landscape Partnership promoting cycling and walking throughout the Parish.
• To support our high street/ town shops, cafes and public houses to reduce their energy bills (therefore their costs) by assisting them to obtain energy efficiency reports and making planning applications for renewable energy schemes. In support of achieving and maintaining an International Dark Skies Designation, assist Town Centre businesses to review and reduce their outside lighting, which should also reduce energy costs. (St Just Square had the poorest dark sky quality reading in the area).  

If you want to find out more and perhaps feel you have some skills to bring to this, the full story can be read here: Town Vitality Fund

Some reading this from the wider Parish might be wondering why this is focusing on St Just Town Centre and this is because it has to focus on our High Street. If we can make the case for funding and developing the ideas set out above then, the Parish as a whole will likely benefit.