Excellent response to possible Rhayader shopfront scheme
Some 18 Rhayader businesses have signed up to a grant scheme to enhance their shops
And another 11 traders are considering whether they wish to take part.
All of the businesses have now been asked to provide quotations for the proposed work they would want to be done and to send it in to Rhayader Town Council by December 14.
Businesses in the town were invited to a public meeting recently to gauge interest in the scheme.
The scheme, if it goes ahead, would give local businesses the chance to apply for a grant of upto £20,000 to refurbish and enhance their shops.
The work could include repairing, repainting or replacing doors and windows, painting or re-coating facades, repairs to brickwork, masonry or timber, repair or replacement of awnings or shutters and repairs or replacement of signage, lighting or other fixtures.
If the town decides to go ahead the grant application would come under the Transforming Towns grant fund.
Town clerk Mrs Julie Stephens said; “The Town Council believe a vibrant, attractive town centre benefits everyone, so we’re offering to submit a collective grant funding bid to Powys County Council on behalf of local business interested in participating in the scheme.”
There would need to be a group application with four or five businesses involved although there is no maximum number and the grant could be for upto £20,000 and it would cover 70 per cent of the costs of the work with the business owner paying for the remainder.
But the scheme would have to be managed by Rhayader Town Council.
Previously, town and county councillor Angela Davies said: “I think we have done it before and I think we should do it again. It is a difficult time for some of our small businesses and this would encourage them to do their shop windows and fronts.”
Deputy Mayor Councillor James Stuart said he thought the town council should do it too.
The town council would collate the information from the businesses and pass it onto the county council.
If the county council agree to it, the town council would then put in the bid on behalf of all the businesses and if they got the go-ahead the businesses would have to pay the contractors and then claim the money back and Powys County Council would give the grant money to Rhayader Town Council for them to distribute it to the individual businesses.
It is a two year grant scheme and it ends finally at the end of December 2026.
A total of £4 million has been allocated towards town centre regeneration projects across Mid Wales (Powys and Ceredigion) over the next two years (2025-2027).
Welsh Government has made the award to Powys County Council, working in partnership with Ceredigion County Council, as part of its Transforming Towns programme.
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