Town Centres in Wales to benefit from £15.2m placemaking fund

Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythyn, has announced a £15.2m ‘placemaking’ funding package to help Wales’s town centres build back better.

It’s all part of a wider £110m investment through Transforming Towns, the Welsh Government’s town centre regeneration programme, which funds projects for the benefit of local communities in town and city centres in Wales.

The new funding package, available to all of Wales’s Local Authorities, is designed to be as flexible as possible and will offer support for a wide range of projects, from green infrastructure developments and the creation of active travel routes, to internal and external improvements for business owners.

In addition, the funding will support the improvement of town centre markets, create new uses for vacant buildings, and drive activity to support Welsh Government’s ‘digital towns’ agenda — among other projects to make Wales’s town and city centres thrive.

Designed in collaboration with Wales’s local authorities, the £15.2m support package will offer increased flexibility and control over available funds for town regeneration projects — with one lead authority within each region administering the fund.

The great flexibility will allow Local Authorities to choose which towns are supported and make use of the range of options available to best suit each individual location.

Wrexham County Borough Council has been selected for north Wales, Powys County Council for mid-Wales and Rhondda Cynon Taf for south east Wales. Meanwhile, Swansea County Council will be responsible for funding allocations in south west Wales.

The Llys Cadwyn development, Pontypridd

THEN: The former site of the Taff Vale shopping precinct in Pontypridd town centre.

The former site of the Taff Vale shopping precinct in Pontypridd town centre, credit RCT Council

NOW: Three architect-designed buildings, comprising modern business and community leisure facilities. Transport for Wales has also recently established its new headquarters at 3 Llys Cadwyn and is working with the Welsh Government to develop remote working for its employees at the site.

The Llys Cadwyn development, credit RCT Council

Those eligible to apply for funding include local authorities, town centre businesses, Business Improvement Districts and Town and Community Councils.

It is hoped that the new grant, alongside other existing Transforming Towns support packages, including the £5.3m announced last summer to support town centre and traders respond to the Covid-19 by funding adaptions and improve public safety, will help with

recovery efforts from the pandemic — helping to bring new economic opportunity and employment back to the centre of Wales’s towns.

This is in keeping with Welsh Government’s ‘Town Centre First’ initiative and long-term ambition for 30% of the Welsh population to work from, or closer to home — through repurposing vacant buildings into co-working hubs and encouraging public sector organisations to set up offices in town centre locations. Superfast Business Wales’s work to improve connectivity across Wales will further aid this, with businesses and individuals encouraged to explore their connectivity options and make more of digital.

The Welsh Government’s work to further improve digital connectivity across Wales will also help support this with a number of existing interventions including a £10m Local Broadband Fund and a range of voucher schemes to help those without access to superfast broadband. This is in addition to its current roll-out out of full-fibre broadband with Openreach to around 39,000 properties using £56 million of public funding. Individuals, businesses and communities are encouraged to explore their connectivity options to make more of digital.

Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, said: “Our town centres are unique, special places. Each town has its own proud history, sense of place and memory — with many of lives shaped by the towns we have grown up in, moved-to or visited.

“However, we know that towns in Wales are facing huge challenges in light of Covid-19, which is why the Welsh Government is committed to doing everything we can to ensure our town centres not only survive but thrive in the future.

“By offering Welsh local authorities the broadest and most flexible package of support through our new placemaking fund, we have enabled our regional partners to decide upon the most appropriate mix of interventions and how to put them into practice effectively in towns across Wales.

“Together with wider Transforming Towns programme grants, this will help us to re-build our Welsh towns and to realise wider plans set out by Welsh Government — to open up new, local economic opportunities while creating sustainable places for the people of Wales to live, work, learn and enjoy.”

Canol Trefi yng Nghymru i elwa o gronfa creu lleoedd gwerth £15.2m

Heddiw, mae’r Dirprwy Weinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol, wedi cyhoeddi pecyn cyllido ‘creu lleoedd’ gwerth £15.2m i helpu canol trefi Cymru i ailadeiladu’n ôl.

Mae’r cyfan yn rhan o fuddsoddiad ehangach o £110m trwy gynllun Trawsnewid Trefi, rhaglen adfywio canol trefi Llywodraeth Cymru, sy’n ariannu prosiectau er budd cymunedau lleol yng nghanol trefi a dinasoedd yng Nghymru.

Mae’r pecyn cyllido newydd, sydd ar gael i holl Awdurdodau Lleol Cymru, wedi’i gynllunio i fod mor hyblyg â phosibl a bydd yn cynnig cefnogaeth ar gyfer ystod eang o brosiectau, o ddatblygiadau seilwaith gwyrdd a chreu llwybrau teithio egnïol, i welliannau mewnol ac allanol ar gyfer perchnogion busnes.

Yn ogystal, bydd yr arian yn cefnogi gwella marchnadoedd canol trefi, yn creu defnydd newydd ar gyfer adeiladau gwag, ac yn cefnogi gweithgaredd i gefnogi agenda ‘trefi digidol’ Llywodraeth Cymru – ymhlith prosiectau eraill i wneud i ganol trefi a dinasoedd Cymru ffynnu.

Wedi’i ddylunio mewn cydweithrediad ag awdurdodau lleol Cymru, bydd y pecyn cymorth o

£15.2m yn cynnig mwy o hyblygrwydd a rheolaeth dros yr arian sydd ar gael ar gyfer prosiectau adfywio trefi – gydag un awdurdod arweiniol ym mhob rhanbarth yn gweinyddu’r gronfa.

Bydd yr hyblygrwydd mawr yn caniatáu i Awdurdodau Lleol ddewis pa drefi sy’n cael eu cefnogi a defnyddio’r ystod o opsiynau sydd ar gael sy’n gweddu orau i bob lleoliad unigol.

Dewiswyd Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam ar gyfer gogledd Cymru, Cyngor Sir Powys ar gyfer canolbarth Cymru a Rhondda Cynon Taf ar gyfer de-ddwyrain Cymru. Yn y cyfamser, bydd Cyngor Sir Abertawe yn gyfrifol am ddyraniadau cyllid yn ne-orllewin Cymru.

Ymhlith y rhai sy’n gymwys i wneud cais am gyllid mae awdurdodau lleol, busnesau canol tref, Ardaloedd Gwella Busnes a Chynghorau Tref a Chymuned.

Y gobaith yw y bydd y grant newydd, ochr yn ochr â phecynnau cymorth Trawsnewid Trefi eraill, gan gynnwys y £5.3m a gyhoeddwyd yr haf diwethaf i gefnogi canol y dref a masnachwyr yn ymateb i Covid-19 trwy ariannu addasiadau a gwella diogelwch y cyhoedd, yn helpu gydag ymdrechion adfer o’r pandemig – helpu i ddod â chyfle economaidd a chyflogaeth newydd yn ôl i ganol trefi Cymru.

Mae hyn yn unol â menter ‘Canol y Dref yn Gyntaf’ Llywodraeth Cymru ac uchelgais tymor hir i 30% o boblogaeth Cymru weithio ohoni, neu’n agosach at adref – trwy ailgodi adeiladau gwag yn ganolfannau cydweithredu ac annog sefydliadau’r sector cyhoeddus i osod swyddfeydd mewn lleoliadau yng nghanol y dref. Bydd gwaith Superfast Business Wales i wella cysylltedd ledled Cymru yn cynorthwyo hyn ymhellach, gyda busnesau ac unigolion yn cael eu hannog i archwilio eu hopsiynau cysylltedd a gwneud mwy yn ddigidol.

Bydd gwaith Llywodraeth Cymru i wella cysylltedd digidol ymhellach ledled Cymru hefyd yn helpu i gefnogi hyn gyda nifer o ymyriadau sy’n bodoli eisoes gan gynnwys Cronfa Band Eang Lleol gwerth £10m ac ystod o gynlluniau talebau i helpu’r rhai heb fynediad at fand eang cyflym iawn. Mae hyn yn ychwanegol at yr hyn a gyflwynir ar hyn o bryd, sef band eang ffibr-llawn gydag Openreach i oddeutu 39,000 eiddo gan ddefnyddio £56 miliwn o arian cyhoeddus. Anogir unigolion, busnesau, a chymunedau i archwilio eu hopsiynau cysylltedd i wneud mwy o ddefnydd o’r elfen ddigidol.

Dywedodd Hannah Blythyn, Dirprwy Weinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol: “Mae canol ein trefi yn lleoedd unigryw, arbennig. Mae gan bob tref ei hanes balch ei hun, ymdeimlad o le a chof – gyda llawer o fywydau wedi’u siapio gan y trefi rydyn ni wedi ein magu ynddyn nhw, wedi symud iddyn nhw neu wedi ymweld â nhw.

“Fodd bynnag, rydyn ni’n gwybod bod trefi yng Nghymru yn wynebu heriau enfawr yng ngoleuni Covid-19, a dyna pam mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi ymrwymo i wneud popeth o fewn ein gallu i sicrhau bod canol ein trefi nid yn unig yn goroesi ond yn ffynnu yn y dyfodol.

“Trwy gynnig y pecyn cymorth mwyaf eang a hyblyg i awdurdodau lleol Cymru trwy ein cronfa creu lleoedd newydd, rydyn ni wedi galluogi ein partneriaid rhanbarthol i benderfynu ar y gymysgedd fwyaf priodol o ymyriadau a sut i’w rhoi ar waith yn effeithiol mewn trefi ledled Cymru.

“Ynghyd â grantiau rhaglen Trawsnewid Trefi ehangach, bydd hyn yn ein helpu i ailadeiladu ein trefi yng Nghymru ac i wireddu cynlluniau ehangach a nodwyd gan Lywodraeth Cymru – i agor cyfleoedd economaidd lleol newydd wrth greu lleoedd cynaliadwy i bobl Cymru fyw, gweithio, dysgu a mwynhau.”