£25 million boost for Trowbridge and Salisbury centres

Trowbridge town centre and Salisbury city centre can now look forward to over £25 million investment following successful bids through the government's Future High Streets Fund.

The council has been awarded £16,347,056 for Trowbridge and £9,355,301 for Salisbury, representing up to 69% of the total amounts bid for. The final amounts have been awarded following technical updates being submitted, showing that the proposed projects to revitalise the two centres could be delivered within the funding levels offered.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "We've been progressing these bids over the last two years, so I'm delighted to confirm that it is now official, we have secured the funding.

"This is fantastic news and I'm sure will be very much welcomed by our local residents and businesses, particularly as our high streets have been facing so many challenges over the last few years. This significant investment means we can now move forward with these transformational projects and rejuvenate one of our town centre and our city centre."

The projects planned for Trowbridge focus on improving connections into the town centre, transforming the gateway experience by bringing more leisure, residential and cultural activity into the area and making better use of vacant units to enable a diverse and sustainable mix of uses within the heart of the town centre.

While in Salisbury, the projects include a redesign of station forecourt making it more attractive and accessible for visitors and residents and improvements to the road network and public spaces along Fisherton Street which connects the station to Salisbury's retail centre, where a number of apartments will be created to encourage the use of vacant upper floors.

Cllr Clewer added: "We look forward to sharing our plans with the local communities and organisations later this year so that we can bring these schemes to fruition, creating vibrant town centres in the heart of two of our communities."