Axminster has a "golden opportunity' to reinvigorate its high street by securing significant government funding, town councillors were told this week.

At Axminster Town Council's monthly meeting by Zoom, former mayor and district councillor Paul Hayward gave a report on government funding that was now available through East Devon District Council.

Cllr Hayward, who is EDDC's Assets Portfolio holder and deputy leader, told the council that East Devon had been given a "swathe of money" by national government, predominantly to do with COVID, to help businesses overcome their losses.

He said: "Most people in this room would have seen grants going hither and zither to local businesses. They have not allowed businesses to go out to buy Jaguars, they simply have allowed them to tread water until they can reopen. East Devon has given out on behalf of the government a considerable amount of money, many tens of millions.

"The last trance of money we received - £3 million – will be split into three parts – one to be held back for another rainy day, one to be given out immediately, known as Adaption, Innovation and Resilience (AIR) funding, and then we have kept another £1 million back to create a fund to allow businesses to be resilient and to innovative and to adapt, not just businesses but community groups.

Draconian hoops to jump through

"The EDDC Cabinet has bolstered that money to nearly £2 million. Members will remember last year there was a reopening of the High Streets fund of £130,000, it was European development fund money, but the hoops that councils had to jump through to qualify for that fund were so draconian and so shackled with terms and conditions, it was just not viable.

"East Devon District Council has taken that money and has used it for a series of consultations for the whole of East Devon to work out how we can best take this forward and dovetailed into that is this AIR fund.

"I cannot stress enough the urgency for Axminster to grasp this, the point being that all funds require a leading group. It's very difficult to give taxpayers funds to an individual. The town council is uniquely placed to act as the figurehead for this fund. There is £2 million.

"Even if it got a proportion of that money based on its population, I cannot make any promises about how much you will get, but this is a golden opportunity for Axminster to work with East Devon, to work with private landowners, to work with community groups, the chamber of commerce, Totally Locally, the charity sector, and work out how we reinvigorate and adapt our high street.

Time for town council to take the lead

"There are a number of empty shops that we all know that have taken a huge hit. It's for the town council, I believe, to take the lead and do what the town and businesses look to the town council to do.

"This money is there to apply for. If it's not spent, and this breaks my heart, that money has to be given back to central government. To give one penny back when it could be spent here would just be awful."

Cllr Hayward said he would be delighted to work with the town council and he was sure the town council would like to work with others.

He continued: "Let's say for argument Axminster could get £150,000 of this money. You could start a project, as Seaton Town Council did, to invigorate some of the shop fronts, to smart them up with a lick of point. That can be done.

"Perhaps thinking on a grander scale, the town council has resources too. Just imagine that if the town council was able to put some money in, the district council puts some money in, and we turn to the county council and say please cane we have some more, imagine if you were able to garner £300,000 for this town to employ a town planner, a consultant to help guide you to bring all these players together to see what the town needs, all running in tandem with the Neighbourhood Plan.

The potential is huge

"The opportunity is now. This fund is open. It's being started. It's up to the town council to step up and say we want some of this money. I think the potential is huge. If we can't work in unison, residents and businesses would never forgive us."

Following a question about the timescale involved from the clerk, Hilary Kirkcaldie, Cllr Hayward said the end date for sending this money was March 2022.

The Mayor, Cllr Jill Farrow, commented: "I know that all councillors will support this absolutely. It's really important for the people of Axminster that we move ahead with this and take as much government money as we positively can in support of the wants and needs of the people of Axminster, be they members of the public, be they traders, be they councillors.

"We are all sitting around this table tonight because we want to do our best for the community and it's my belief that this is a way of doing our best."

Cllr Farrow thought the best way of moving ahead was to discuss it at the public meeting to be held on Monday (March 15).

The clerk asked whether it would be possible to get some of the funding for putting in the electric car charging units.

The council's youngest member, Ollie Taylor, said he had spoken to his boss who also had a shop in Seaton where he was aware of the fund for shop front renewal and he thought it that was an important thing they could do in Axminster.

Cllr Sarah Leat: "I do think we need to do this in conjunction with others. We need to involve other people in our discussion.

"When we are thinking about other meetings, these should be open to all interested people. We could miss a massive project we have not thought about."

The clerk said they had the chance of having outside meetings with councillors and representatives of other bodies. Names could be taken to set up an outside committee at Monday's open meeting.

In response to another question from the clerk, Cllr Hayward said: "The fund is uniquely suitable for Axminster's needs. The sky is the limit.

"This might be the springboard to take you into multi-million pound investment for Axminster. Everything ticks Axminster's box and it is such an exciting opportunity."

The mayor proposed that the matter be addressed at Monday's meeting when they could take names at that meeting of people who would be interested in forming a working group. This was unanimously agreed.

Cllr Farrow concluded the debate by saying: "I am really happy about this. I think this is one of the happiest times I've had at a council meeting because we are looking at a positive way forward as we as a group of concerned people can actually do something really positively for our town."

She thanked Cllr Hayward for all his hard work on the matter.

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