Our Council put a lot of time and effort into this bid to get a heap of European funding that will boost Whitstable’s tourism by enhancing its museum offering and information centre.
Excellent. Well done.
Now it’s Herne Bay’s turn.
Harbour funding bid gets green light
A city council bid for European funding for Whitstable Harbour has been successful.
The money is coming from the European Union Interreg IVa programme,
for the partnerships bid Fostering Long Term Initiatives in Ports. The
project sees the council working with a number of other small and medium
sized ports including Dieppe, Le Havre, Newhaven and Torbay on
initiatives that will improve performance, trade, efficiency and the
local economy.
At Whitstable, the funding will go towards studies and models for the
redevelopment of redundant buildings, a feasibility study for the
development of a maritime heritage and information centre, studies into
improved water and energy efficiency and cross border training and
capacity building into innovative port financing.
Half of the money for the €600,000 project comes from the
European Interreg fund, with the city council providing match funding
for the other half.
The council’s Deputy Head of Culture and Enterprise, Dawn Hudd, said:
“Naturally we are very pleased that the bid was successful and are
looking forward to working with our partners on both sides of the
channel. We can all learn much from each other as we build up close
links over the next few years. There is great potential for revamping some areas of the harbour,
such as through the redevelopment of the south quay shed. But we want to
make it clear that we will be working with local people throughout the
process and making sure there is full public consultation on any
development plans. We know how passionate the town’s residents are about
their harbour.”
CCC 19th Apr 2013