The purpose of this fund is to rejuvenate and reanimate high streets across York and North Yorkshire, with key objectives including boosting the resilience of town centres and high streets to expand their offer and increasing events and activities that can attract residents and visitors.
Indicative £10 million funding across 2024 to 2028 approved in principle and subject to detailed programme design.
Latest Updates
25.02.25 – Spark:York founder backs High Street Fund to boost city – York Press
Phase One is now closed for applications. Phase Two will launch in Summer 2025. Further information can be found on this webpage.
We will keep you updated with the latest news here as this fund progresses.
Key Outcomes
- Support town centres and high streets to improve their resilience and expand their local offer.
- Increase the number of events and activities attracting people to use their local town centres and high streets.
- Support activities aimed at reducing the number of vacant units (where it’s an issue) and increase footfall (where it is currently low).
- Improve perceptions of town centres and high streets within local communities and for visitors.
Next Steps
- Ongoing engagement with the York and North Yorkshire High Street Forum and other stakeholders for the further development of the programme.
- Applications submitted for Phase One are being appraised following the submission deadline.
- Phase Two to launch by summer 2025.
What types of activity can be funded?
In Phase One, revenue and capital funding is available for local partnerships to deliver projects that involve (for example):
• Creating networking opportunities for High Street stakeholders
• Providing training and workshop sessions to improve business resilience
• Organising events and activities to generate footfall
• Developing marketing concepts
• Installing or upgrading technology
• Delivering ‘Pop Up’ schemes that provide opportunities for micro and small enterprises and/or community services focused on health and social wellbeing
• Delivering targeted shop frontage improvements
This list is not exhaustive. Please see the prospectus for further details.
The delivery period for projects is from April 2025 – December 2025.
Who can apply?
Applications will only be accepted from ‘Local Partnerships’.
• Local partnerships may be existing or new.
• Local partnerships may be a formally constituted organisation or an informal partnership.
• All local partnerships are required to identify a lead applicant.
Eligible lead applicants include the following, acting on behalf of a local partnership:
• Representatives of business clusters – Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, localised Business Forums and Trade Associations)
• Town and Parish Councils
• Community Interest Companies
• Registered charity, voluntary and community organisations
• Individual businesses
Are individual businesses eligible to apply for funding?
An individual business alone is not eligible to apply.
Individual businesses can apply as a lead applicant on behalf of local partnership made up of other businesses and organisations. Individual businesses can also be a member of a local partnership, where another business or organisation is the lead applicant.
Are BIDs eligible to apply for funding?
Yes, BIDs can apply to the programme as a lead applicant on behalf of a local partnership.
In the case of BIDs, the membership of the local partnership outlined in the application must include non-levy-paying members as well as levy-paying members.
When can I apply?
You can apply now via this webpage up until the deadline of Friday 21st March.
What are the criteria that will be used to assess applications?
Applications will be assessed based on the ability of the applicant to:
• Explain and evidence the Need for the project
• Explain and evidence the Strategic Fit with the programme objectives. Applications for new and innovative activity will be considered favourably during appraisal
• Explain and evidence the positive Impact the project will have and explain how measurable outputs and outcomes will be achieved. Any added value the project will achieve should be described too.
• Provide an accurate and reasonable breakdown of Project Costs
• Explain how the project will be Deliverable in full within the timeframe
• Explain who will be Managing the project, which partners will be collaborating, and their track record of delivery. The extent of partnership working will be an essential consideration for appraisal.
Are there restrictions on the number of (successful) applications per town centre location?
Not in Phase One.
We would encourage local organisations and businesses to have conversations with one another and collaborate on designing a project to meet the needs of the high street or town centre location. However, multiple applications submitted from the same area will not be excluded in this case.
All applications will be appraised against a consistent framework once they are received with decisions based on merit and fit with the programme criteria.
Is the £40,000 maximum in this phase inclusive or exclusive of VAT?
If there is no match funding and the applicant organisation is unable to recover VAT, then total project costs including VAT must be less than £40,000.
Do local partnerships need to be formally constituted or have existing formal governance in place?
No – local partnerships can be new and informal. The only requirement is for letters of support from those named partner organisations to confirm their role in the project.
Is the definition of ‘High Street’ fixed to a traditional understanding (i.e. the main central retail area of a town centre)?
No – this programme is opting for a flexible definition where the local understanding of the ‘High Street’ is open to interpretation. ‘High Streets’ may be understood locally as areas of local commerce or community activity which differ from the traditional town centre retail definition. The application will ask you to describe the ‘High Street’ area in your own words and explain where the project activity will take place.
The overall indicative split of the Vibrant and Sustainable High Streets Fund: Phase One is 75% Revenue and 25% Capital; is there an expectation that individual applications should follow this Revenue / Capital split?
No – applicants do not need to follow this revenue/capital split in their applications. The programme is open to applications for both capital and revenue activity which can be delivered within the timeframe. At this stage in the programme, we are not being prescriptive; we can be flexible about the amount of revenue/capital allocated to successful projects.
Can proposals that would involve multiple places / towns / high streets be considered?
Yes – proposals involving multiple locations across the region are welcome. It would be helpful to understand such proposals in more detail, so please complete a ‘Get in Touch’ form below.
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Get in touch
If you have any further questions, please fill in the following form and a member of the team will be in touch.
