Bexleyheath town centre awarded £160,000 from Mayor

Bexleyheath town centre will see £160,000 in funding out of a £2 million High Streets for All fund.

Bexley Council will see funding for:

“The project will develop a high street strategy and delivery plan with a focus on young people and intergenerational relationships as well as street markets and the evening economy.

Pilot activities will include testing uses of the public realm, with the creation of a Youth Board to inform decision-making and co-design alongside the partnership.”

The funding will be used in addition to those from the Bexleyheath Business Improvement District.

That sees business pay for a general fund for events and town centre improvements.

Businesses in the town recently voted to extend for another five years. That will see £1.23 million spent on a range of areas including:

• Additional street cleaning
• An annual deep cleaning programme
• A dedicated town centre police officer
• A town centre business radio scheme
• Christmas lights and Christmas Trees
• Christmas Switch-On event

The project is aimed at brining more people back to town centres. Footfall is still down 17 per cent across the country’s town centres compared to 2019.

Adverts are far from enough to cover living costs and and pay to keep it going with hosting fees, URL fees and Theme costs adding into the hundreds of pounds.