£2,000 set aside by Rhayader Town Council to undertake application work on shopfront scheme
Some 32 properties have signed up to a grant scheme to enhance their shops in Rhayader and have sent in their quotes for work
The work would total an approximate £351,000 if it all got completed with possible grants for about 70 per cent of that value.
At a previous meeting town councillors were told that 18 of the business owners want to put in UPVC windows and it is not clear if this would be allowed because of the town’s conservation area.
Town clerk Julie Stephens said there was a certain nervousness about the scheme as business owners would need to put in a planning application for the work and pay for the plastic windows and there is a concern that they may not get planning because of the conservation area status and so they would not be able to get a grant and in theory, if it was enforced, they could be made to take the windows out.
As a result, a town council working group recently met with a planning officer to discuss the issues and streamline the process.
Councillor Clare Evans told the town council; “It was a very useful meeting. We spoke frankly and said we wanted to minimise the effort for everyone and to maximise the output.
“We agreed that we will approach someone to help to co-ordinate the grant applications initially and then to also co-ordinate the planning applications when they need to go into Powys County Council
“The working group said around £2,000 would need to be ring-fenced for someone to do this work. We are hoping we can get that money back as professional costs.”
Members agreed to ring fence £2,000 from the town improvement part of the town council’s budget for someone to co-ordinate the work.
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.
The grant application would come under the Transforming Towns grant fund and the scheme would have to be managed by Rhayader Town Council.
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.
