Sixteen successful ‘fast track’ projects are receiving a share of £6 million Coastal Communities Fund money to help deliver sustainable growth and jobs. Sixteen successful ‘Fast Track’ projects are receiving a share of £6 million Coastal Communities Fund money to help deliver sustainable growth and jobs across the Great British Coast. As part of the fifth round of the Coastal Communities Fund, 16 ‘ready to go’ projects have been selected to start work to transform their coastal communities in 2018 to 2019 before the main round funding becomes available in April 2019. The chosen projects, which range from a community arts project in South Shields to heritage boat tours in Falmouth’s historic docks, are collectively forecast to create over 1100 jobs and are set to attract public and private sector co-funding of £2.4 million.

On a visit to one of the ‘fast track’ winners, Disability First “Access Fylde Coast”, Coastal Communities Minister, Jake Berry MP, said:

It’s really exciting to see money from the Coastal Communities Fund help kick start these shovel ready projects, which have the potential to unlock the barriers to development and growth in our coastal communities. Investment in our seaside areas, through projects such as these, will provide nothing short of a New Deal for the Great British coast, creating thousands of jobs, training places and opportunities along the shore. Disability First, “Access Fylde Coast” will receive almost £1 million to boost tourism by improving the visitor experience for people with disabilities visiting the Fylde, Blackpool and Wyre coasts. The project includes training courses for local businesses to support people with disabilities, organising new events and creating trained volunteer access guides. Click here to see the details of the 16 projects