Resources

Some town centre projects can cost virtually nothing, for example, a social media marketing campaign or community artworks by local artists. At the other end of the scale, new buildings or street layouts can cost millions of pounds. Your plan for your town centre should have some cheap quick wins so that you aren’t just reliant on literally winning the lottery. If all the actions in your plan take years to achieve, people will lose heart.

But you need money to do most things: sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Keeping up with all the different sources of funding is a full-time job in itself. Fortunately help is at hand!

Scotland’s Towns Partnership's Funding Finder is a great source of information on grant funds, and is updated monthly. While each monthly update is provided to STP members as priority, it is subsequently made available for all to view on the organisation's website.

Your local authority and, for voluntary organisations, local Third Sector Interface may also have professional expertise and access to local funds. For example, local authority planning departments may be able to tap into ‘planning obligations’ money from town centre developments to fund improvements, such as the case study of Barrhead on page 133 of the previous Town Centre Toolkit.

Local partners who you collaborate with may know of other local sources of funding.

Other specific sources of funding for specific types of project, such as transport or historic buildings, are mentioned throughout the Toolkit.