Plans to regenerate the centre of Burnham-On-Sea have suffered a major setback this week with the news that a bid for £500,000 of government funding has been turned down.
Sedgemoor District Council had applied for the ‘Sea Change’ funding from CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) in an attempt to secure much-needed cash to transform Burnham’s town centre.
The Sea Change scheme intends to boost seaside towns around the UK, but on Tuesday the council was told that Burnham had not been selected.
Nicola Slawski, Group Manager of Regeneration at Sedgemoor District Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com the decision was a “big disappointment” but vowed that the plans to regenerate Burnham would not be affected.
“We don’t have detailed feedback yet and so don’t fully know why the funding bid has been turned down,” she said. “I want to reassure Burnham, though, that all is not lost and we will be looking at moving ahead with regeneration by finding other sources of funding.”
She said that it had been intended that the ‘Sea Change’ funding would be used to regenerate Burnham High Street and College Street as part of the ‘Civic Pride’ scheme.
There were plenty of glum faces at Tuesday night’s meeting of Burnham Chamber of Trade (pictured right) where Doug Bamsey, Corporate Director of Sedgemoor District Council, tried to put a positive spin on the situation.
He told traders at the Princess Hall: “The ‘Sea Change’ decision is disappointing, but we’ve already been in contact with SWRDA (The South West Regional Development Agency) and they, like us, are still very enthusiastic for the regeneration plans to proceed.”
Alex Turco, Chairman of Burnham’s Chamber of Trade, added: “Given this decision and the observations about the poor state of the High Street and town centre during yesterday’s council walkabout, it is very important that funding to make regeneration happen is found quickly so that traders can compete in this difficult financial climate.”
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