The next three Margate Town Deal Business Case Summary Documents have been submitted to the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, taking us a big step closer to unlocking £22.2m of Towns Fund investment for the town.
Since the government’s funding offer in March 2021, work has been underway to develop ‘Green Book’ * compliant Business Case Summary Documents for the following shortlisted projects.
Scaling creative production and skills (submitted)
- Establishing a Creative Land Trust and Outreach, education and engagement programme (the £6.9m Business Case Summary was submitted in October 2021 and has now received government approval)
- Improvements to the Theatre Royal (£2m)
Coastal wellbeing (submitted)
- Improvements to Walpole Bay and testing new uses (£2.3m)
- Oval Bandstand and Lawns (£500,000)
- Skatepark (£750,000)
Active movement and connections (submitted)
- A series of highway and public realm interventions (£5.3m)
Heritage assets
- Repurposing the cinema building at Dreamland (£4m) – business case summary will be submitted in May 2022.
- Winter Garden future options appraisal (£300,000) – submitted.
These projects were identified in the Margate Town Investment Plan, which was developed through engagement with residents; community groups; key stakeholders and businesses. The agreed long term vision is “Margate coming together to help it thrive 365”.
Commenting on today’s milestone, Chair of the Margate Town Deal Board, Brian Horton said:
“Today is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work and collaboration between the individual project teams, the people of Margate, Thanet District Council and the Margate Town Deal Board. I would like to thank everyone for their contributions and am proud to say that each and every business case submitted will deliver something new for Margate and help it fulfil its potential.
“The projects celebrate both our unique coastline and heritage assets and will increase visitor numbers, staying time, spend and vibrancy. Getting the green light from the government for the Margate Creative Land Trust shows real confidence in our Town Investment Plan, which bodes well for future funding decisions.”
Cllr Reece Pugh, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Thanet District Council added:
“There is so much to look forward to and be excited about in Margate at the moment. The business cases were all developed with the same objective in mind – to help the town flourish, both economically and socially, and to create lots of fantastic opportunities for the community to get involved with.”
Sir Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet said:
“This investment provides a real opportunity to make a lasting mark on the development of Margate. We have seen some real progress along the seafront in recent years, but the Town Deal money has the potential to help us lever much greater funding to make continued improvements to some of our heritage buildings, to the High Street and into the Old Town.
“On a personal level, I’ve been pleased to see the local community come together to help create a Town Investment Plan that addresses many areas across the town. This project has benefited significantly from the input of the people of Margate.”
Consultant to the project, Chris Paddock, Director at PRD Ltd, remarked:
“Working with local people and the community has been central to our work on the Margate Town Deal. What is particularly exciting about the business cases for Margate is that a number of them have been a collaboration with community organisations. This means a significant proportion of funding is going to be overseen by local groups, who will work with the council to deliver these exciting projects. As a result, the impact will be about more than bricks and mortar, it will empower and enable local people to change their town for the benefit of their community.”
Next steps
It is expected that the government will take approximately two months to review the Business Case Summary Documents. If successful, each project will continue to develop through the relevant design, planning and procurement processes. Depending on the funding timeframe, Margate could start to see further investment after the summer season.
More information on the projects can be found on the Margate Town Deal website, which is updated regularly. If you would like to be among the first to hear about news and updates around the Town Deal, please email the Project Team and request to be added to the Margate Town Deal Mailing List.
* The Green Book is guidance issued by HM Treasury on how to appraise programmes and projects. All of the business cases went through a local assurance process and an external assurance process to check they met the government’s requirements.
