London,
04
August
2021
|
08:26
Europe/London

New funding secured for Kilburn High Road

Camden has successfully secured £20,000 of funding from the Mayor of London’s High Streets for All Challenge.

In March, the Council issued a call to community groups, organisations and businesses to submit proposals to the Mayor of London’s High Streets for All Challenge.

The funding from the GLA will support partnerships between local authorities, communities and business groups. Together they will co-design innovative approaches to enhance public spaces, bring exciting new activities to town centres and strengthen communities.

“
Councillor Danny Beales, Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Investing in Communities, Culture and an Inclusive Economy
“I was astounded by the quality of submissions put forward for this funding, it demonstrates how important our high streets are to our residents.

“The GLA received more interest from Camden than any other London borough and this included proposals in Fitzrovia, Kentish Town, Camden Town and Kilburn.

“Although a very difficult decision, after carefully assessing all the proposals in partnership with the GLA, we have selected the proposals put forward by Life in Kilburn and Transport for London for Kilburn High Road.”
Councillor Danny Beales, Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Investing in Communities, Culture and an Inclusive Economy
„

Life in Kilburn, who have been campaigning for improvements in Kilburn, have put forward a proposal to create a local Business and Resident Network and to animate a currently underused space, creating a pop-up hub and market for the community on the High Road.

Transport for London’s proposal focuses on their ownership of railway arches at the north end of the high road, aiming to create a community driven social hub and a local icon. Their project will open up vacant and abandoned arches and use existing commercial buildings for community uses.

Councillor Danny Beales continued:

“I’m looking forward to seeing the partnership for Kilburn take shape and deliver our vision for Camden’s high streets.

“We want to support all our high streets, as they are at the heart of Camden’s recovery. Later in the summer, we will be launching a crowd-funding platform with Spacehive, backed by a high street fund to further support organisations across Camden to come forward with their proposals.

“We know recovery will depend on the strength of the relationships between businesses, communities, the Council and our partners. That’s why we’re interested in project proposals and developing partnerships to help deliver our vision as set out in our High Streets Prospectus.”

Jo Fisher, Senior Property Manager at Transport for London (TfL) said:

“We are delighted to have had our arches at the north end of Kilburn High Street selected, in the Mayor’s High Streets for All challenge.

“We’re looking forward to working with the local community and hope that we can bring a new kind of resilience and energy to this end of Kilburn High Street, creating a welcoming gateway from our station.

“This work is part of our wider investment into providing new spaces and opportunities for our tenants - many of which are small businesses - across London’s diverse communities.”

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said

“The shops, cafes and other businesses on London’s local high streets have been the heartbeat of our economy, but they’ve been hit incredibly hard by the COVID pandemic. As we start to recover, we need to be bold and innovative to ensure our high streets in places like Kilburn can survive as diverse, bustling centres of our capital’s economy.

“I’m pleased to be able to announce new funding for projects all across the capital that are leading the way coming up with solutions for the future of our high streets. Whether it is new ideas for shared working space, bringing old offices back into use or providing space for exciting cultural activities, these ideas will stimulate economic activity and enrich social and cultural life in our local communities.

“I’m doing all I can to encourage Londoners to safely return to our high streets, but these ongoing partnerships with councils and businesses across the capital will be vital for guaranteeing their future growth and prosperity.”