Two Plymouth projects have been awarded over a million pounds between them in the Government’s new Community Renewal Fund.
Plymouth’s trailblazer National Marine Park has been awarded £655,873 while the Stonehouse Union is to receive £542,893.
The funding for Plymouth Sound National Marine Park will go towards activities with tourism businesses in the wider visitor economy that are engaged, or have the potential to engage, with the National Marine Park initiative.
Working in partnership with Destination Plymouth, businesses will receive 1:1 support for sustainability and growth, training on 'green/blue' tourism and product development as well as innovative approaches to decarbonisation and connecting communities to the waterfront.
Council Leader Nick Kelly said: “This is about greening the tourism businesses around the waterfront and across the wider city. We want to bring businesses with us in this incredible journey and to work with them to explore employment opportunities as well as work with us to develop net zero and green initiatives.”
One of the elements is to help fast track 100 tourism businesses with improvement plans to cut their carbon footprint – and crucially, energy bills.
Earlier this year the Council was awarded a Heritage Horizon Award of £9.6 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to make its vision of a park in the sea a reality. The ambitious plan aims to reconnect an entire city to the sea, the marine environment and its history.
The Stonehouse Union bid has been put forward by Nudge Community Builders and Street Factory. It brings together a range of community organisations working towards urban renewal through meeting the needs of individuals.
The project will provide a pipeline of entrepreneurs to occupy underused commercial space and revitalise Plymouth's Union Street and Stonehouse neighbourhood. It will invest in people, giving them support to prepare for work and achieve their potential in the community, and provide affordable space for them to start up and scale up microbusinesses.
Plymouth City Council is the lead authority for both bids and the funding includes management and administration costs.