I know I don’t claim to have the sharpest memory around, but I thought it had taken a turn for the worse after I had read about some grants awarded during the past week, as the story seemed to be changing as I read more about it from various different sources.
Fortunately, when I finally decided to sit down and make some notes, I found that more than one award had actually been reported, and some of the lucky towns concerned were due to benefit from more than one successful application, which is quite an achievement these days, largely thanks to their original applications having been made years ago.
It clearly pays to plan ahead.
Historic Scotland – Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme
First noted was a series of grants awarded under the Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme run by Historic Scotland.
This will see six Scottish towns receive a share of some £3 million in funding to be used for building preservation, shop front repairs, and the maintenance of town centre landmarks:
Anstruther, Fife: £500,000
Ayr, South Ayrshire: £498,244
Dingwall, Highlands: £420,000
Irvine, North Ayrshire: £500,000
Portsoy, Aberdeenshire: £500,000
Rothesay, Argyll and Bute: £499,933
(Apart from Dingwall, I know them all – unfortunately, Dingwall gets bypassed as it’s just off the road to Ullapool.)
Since 2005, this scheme is reported to have benefited conservation areas with some £16 million, and the grants come with back-up and advice from Historic Scotland for the local authorities and building owners involved.
BBC News – Scottish towns awarded £3m for revamp work
Heritage Lottery Fund
The second is even larger (per project), and comes from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and amounts to £1.5 million for Rothesay, and £1.76 million of Parkhead Cross in the east end of Glasgow.
The award for Rothesay is easy to understand, as the town’s fans have watched it decay ever since the arrival of the package holiday during the 1970s, which sucked all the patrons away from the town (and all the Clyde resorts of course) and off to the guaranteed sun of places such as Spain, leaving the former bustling local resorts deserted, and starved of income.
Although there have been efforts to regenerate Rothesay, and there is no criticism of the owners of many buildings which are now decaying along the front, the cost of merely keeping aged buildings weathertight can be crippling, especially if they no longer generated income. They can swallow cash just to keep them safe. leaving none for development or restoration to make them more attractive. In recent years, the most decayed examples have had to be demolished and removed.
This dereliction and demolition has taken place in some prominent areas, leaving obvious and unattractive gap sites, raw gable ends and frontages in poor repair. The money will be used to restore the heart of the town – Guildford Square – which lies beside Rothesay’s medieval royal castle, and is one of the first features seen by visitors arriving on the ferry. Project will include the refurbishment of Duncan’s Hall on East Princes Street, buildings in Montague Street, and the former Guildford Court Hotel in Guildford Square itself.
In comparison with Rothesay, the award of £1.76 million to Parkhead Cross is something of a surprise. Often rolled in with adjacent areas such as Shettleston and Tollcross when the media wants to make references to “the most deprived areas of Scotland”, and show images of vandalism, decay, and bad behaviour, the area does not immediately jump to into one’s mind when grants from sources such as the Lottery Heritage Fund are mentioned – and I live in the same area!
However, I am also aware of the wonderful Edwardian building in the area, often neglected, and in recent years, beginning to sprout odd sculptures created in scaffolding, added in order to hold them together for a few more years.
The award will be used to fund the restoration of 20 shop fronts to improve the appearance of the area, and provide a series short-term lets for artists, traditional crafts people, and start-up businesses. This is an interesting development. Many years ago I was slightly involved in further education in the area, and even then people such as writer Liz Lochhead | www.lizlochhead.com (now the second Scots makar) were involved with evening classes being held in local schools.
While the ferry trip might preclude me keeping too close on eye on developments in Rothesay – but I think I will be able to follow them in the ‘Daily Pics’ here: Zak’s Photo Galleries of Bute – I will be able to take the odd walk down to Parkhead Cross, and see what is happening there every now and then, but the cross is just a bit too far away to do this on a daily basis.
BBC News – Rothesay in line for £1.5m revamp to boost tourism
Secret Scotland 