Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative (RSVCI) - Richmond Heritage Partnership Scheme

Richmond Town Centre has received a fantastic boost with the announcement of £400,000 of investment over the next 2 years. The Richmond Heritage Partnership Scheme, to be run jointly by the Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative and Richmondshire District Council, has attracted major investment from Yorkshire Forward, English Heritage, North Yorkshire County Council and Richmondshire District Council.

The funding will be used for initiatives to improve the vitality, viability and appearance of Town Centre.

Successive studies into the future of Richmond have recommended:

The conversion of redundant spaces, like empty upper floors above shops to quality offices or work/live space.
The maintenance and improvement of the appearance of buildings within the conservation area.

These changes would help to attract new business and bring vitality into the town centre.

A successful bid of £250,000 has been made to Yorkshire Forward’s Renaissance Market Towns Programme. This will allow grants of up to £60,000 to be allocated to encourage conversion of empty spaces within the town to high quality office accommodation.

A further application for £100,000 from English Heritage has also been approved. This will fund a series of medium sized grants of up to £10,000 available for repairs and restoration of the historic fabric of commercial buildings. The scheme will also offer smaller grants of up to £700 for new shop signs and exterior redecoration. A Town Centre Design Guide will be published shortly, to give advice to owners and tenants wishing to apply.

Richmondshire District Council has contributed £30,000 and North Yorkshire County Council £20,000.

Download the Application Form | PDF 76kb | MS WORD .Zip 24kb

Download the Design Guide | PDF 6.9mb Note large file!)