Gravesham Borough Council has allocated £65,000 of UK Government funding to improve Gravesend town centre through providing shop front improvement grants. Businesses in the town centre can apply for up to £5,000 to make improvement to their premises.
Applications closed on Friday 25 October 2024.
Guidance
This web page and accompanying application form are the key documents which need to be observed and completed in full.
Overview of the scheme
A grant up to the value of £5,000 is available to new and existing businesses in the town centre to improve the look, feel and appearance of the business premises.
All applications that meet the eligibility criteria will be assessed by a grant panel on a first come, first served basis. Applicants will be notified whether their application has been successful or not after the grant panel has completed its review.
All initial grant payments (50% upfront payments) will be made by December 2024; therefore, it is crucial proposals are finalised and grant offer letters signed by this date.
Programme timescales
- Business engagement promoting the SFIG – Aug to Sept 2024
- SFIG scheme live for applications – 27 Sept 2024
- SFIG scheme closing date – 25 Oct 2024
- Panel assessment of application received – 25 Oct to 8 Nov 2024
- Notification of recipients to receive grant – 11 Nov 2024
- Acceptance of grant/signature of the grant agreement – 25 Nov 2024
- Mobilisation/commencement of works – Dec 2024 onwards
Priorities of the scheme
- To enhance the aesthetic appeal of retail areas/centres in the town or,
- To assist in bringing any vacant units within the red line boundary back into active use or,
- To undertake works which improve access and visitor experience to the business, including work to reduce anti-social behaviour or crime or,
- To encourage additional footfall as a result the proposed improvements
Who can apply
The shop front grant scheme is open to all owners and leaseholders with at least 3 years left on their lease within eligible town centre red line boundary zone.
Eligible commercial premises include:
- Retailers e.g. grocery, butcher, bakery, etc.
- Services provision e.g. hairdressers, beauty salons, barbers, funeral directors, launderettes, dry cleaners etc.
- Financial and professional services e.g. accountants, estate agents, solicitors
- Restaurants, public houses, cafés and food takeaways
The following organisations/businesses are ineligible:
- National retailers/chains/multiples
- National charities
- Betting Shops/Pawnbrokers
- Adult entertainment premises
- Vape shops
The grant will not fund:
- Recurring revenue costs (including salaries, stock, rent, utility charges etc)
- Repaying existing loans or debts
How to apply
Applications closed on Friday 25 October 2024.
Supporting Information required
- most recent bank statements (3 months),
- Schedule of proposed works,
- Copies of quotes for the proposed works
- Copy of Planning, Licencing, Environmental Health consents and/or permissions, if applicable,
- Copy of your tenancy/ lease agreement (if applicable) and copy of the owners written consent for the works as per the application form
- Visuals of proposed alterations if available
- Before and after photos will be required for successful grant recipients. After photos to be submitted prior to final payment.
Planning considerations
All grants will be conditional on you securing appropriate planning and listed building consent where applicable. The scheme operates independently of the local authority planning process and any offer of a grant does not imply that planning consent will be granted.
Pre-application planning advice can be sought regarding alterations to shopfronts and details of this can be found on our pre-application planning advice page.
An application for planning permission can be made through the Planning Portal.
Please be aware that should you wish to submit an application it must be compliant with local and national validation requirements.
Prior to submitting a planning application, you may wish to engage the services of planning agent.
Prior to submitting a pre-application enquiry or application for planning permission, please review the Shopfront/Advertisement/Security guidance.
There are also informal shop front design guidance sheets which should be reviewed prior to any submission to the planning department:
- Guidance sheet 1
- Guidance sheet 2
- Guidance sheet 3
- Guidance sheet 4
- Guidance sheet 5
- Guidance sheet 6
If your premises is also a Listed Building, an application for Listed Building Consent will also be required.
View Gravesham Borough Conservation Area Appraisals.
View Shopfront/Advertisement/Security guidance.
Grant Conditions
- Grants are discretionary and, the Council reserves the right to withhold payment of the grant in whole or part if any condition of the offer letter has been breached
- The applicant must hold a business bank account (a ‘trading as’ account is acceptable)
- The applicant must have all the necessary permissions and licences to operate the business or make changes to the premises (e.g. changes to signage or shop frontage decoration may need planning and listed building consent)
- By accepting the grant you agree to be involved with Gravesham Borough Council on any publicity on the fund e.g. press releases and photographs, interviews.
- The applicant must not have any other outstanding debts payable to Gravesham Borough Council
- All grant decisions are at the discretion of the grant panel
- All applications will be assessed on the criteria and priorities of the scheme
- All the necessary statutory approvals and legal requirement must be complied with before the remaining half of the grant is paid.
- The grant is repayable should any of the conditions be breached or if the project is not implemented in full as detailed in the application form
- Grants will be limited to one per business
- The applicant/business needs to be financially solvent
- You will be required to maintain the property to a satisfactory standard for a minimum of three years.
Offer of the Grant
All grant offers will be made in writing. If your project requires planning permission and your grant is approved, we will write to you making an in-principle offer of funding, we will then issue a formal grant offer letter as soon as permission is granted. Full details of the conditions that apply to the grant will be set out in the grant offer letter.
An offer of grant must be accepted within 20 working days of receipt of the offer letter by returning a copy of the offer of grant letter signed by the applicant. After this date the offer will be automatically withdrawn. The offer letter will be emailed or sent via the post (if no email is provided), return of acceptance can also be emailed with an electronic signature or sent via the post with a wet signature.
Payment of Grant
- 50% of the grant will be awarded on receipt of quotes and signature of the grant offer letter or agreement.
- The remainder of the grant (50%) will be paid in March 2025 three months from receipt of the grant offer letter/agreement.
- Please do not start work prior to receipt of your offer letter start date as invoices dated before the date of the offer letter will not be eligible for grant payments.
- The remainder payment (50%) will be subject to the applicant having satisfactorily commencing the project and complied with all terms and conditions of the scheme.
- If the actual costs are less than those outlined in the application and agreed in the offer letter, payment will be restricted to the actual amount in accordance with the receipted invoices.
- If the costs of the proposed project exceed the maximum grant awarded as agreed in the offer letter, Gravesham Borough Council will not increase the grant amount.
- Payment of the grant will be made into the applicant’s business bank account (or ‘trading as’ account) via BACS.
Repayment of Grant
Gravesham Borough Council reserves the right to recover all or part of the grant it has offered and paid to the applicant if:
- The business is sold or ceases to trade for whatever reason within a 6-month period from receipt of the grant offer letter.
- The business relocates outside the boundaries of Gravesham Borough Council within a 6-month period from receipt of the grant offer letter.
- Information provided in the application form or other correspondence is found to be substantially incorrect, misleading, or incomplete.
- The business has committed acts or offences which could bring the Council into disrepute.
- The business has committed any fraudulent acts or bribing another person.