NEARLY £1 million of Crown Estate funding has been allocated by councillors to support projects across Argyll and Bute.
Allocations by the area’s council include £260,000 of support for shopfronts and empty business properties to support the ongoing Love Local campaign.
The Albert Pier car park in Rothesay has been awarded £150,000 for resurfacing work, while Helensburgh Conservation Area Scheme will benefit from £135,000 of match funding.
Awards have also been made for Helensburgh Skating Pond, Dunoon Public Realm and Campbeltown War Memorial, while £90,000 will be awarded towards CCTV in towns.
A decision to allocate the funding was made at a meeting of the authority’s policy and resources committee on Thursday, February 19.
The Scottish Government confirmed in November that Argyll and Bute’s Crown Estate revenue allocation was over £2.3m, some of which had already been allocated by the council.
In a report before the meeting, executive director Kirsty Flanagan said: “Members are asked to note that the town centre support for shopfronts and empty business properties will cover all towns in Argyll and Bute and will add value to previous and existing funding which has been very successful and heavily oversubscribed.
“This will support activities such as shopfront upgrades and smaller repairs to commercial properties within local towns.
“Project leads have previously undertaken an open call for funding which was oversubscribed resulting in some local businesses being unsuccessful with bids.
“Projects which were unsuccessful at the previous round of funding will be prioritised for both the shopfront and smaller repair grants.
“Further investment in local CCTV will be focused on additional functionality that enables local CCTV cameras to provide analytic data such as vehicle movements and footfall.
“Such data could be very valuable to inform future funding bids and support more data led priorities for future investment in our town centres.”
