Funding available for projects to help Glasgow town centres and local shopping areas

Glasgow Town Centre Action Programme (GTCAP) grants are now open to applications from organisations in the city.  The grants are for projects that tackle food insecurity - with successful pantry schemes already underway in Parkhead and Ruchazie - and others that look to create new life in town centres and local shopping areas across Glasgow.

Application for GCTAP grants will be considered for projects that will deliver under one of the two following themes:

• Food and Inclusion

Food pantries can help provide access to fresh, quality food at a fraction of supermarket prices for people on low incomes or recovering from crisis.  They offer an alternative to the food bank model and provide dignity and choice whilst addressing food insecurity. Pantries can also provide other services - such as financial advice - and create local employment and increase footfall in town centres.

• Animating Spaces

Glasgow's town centres and local shopping areas are crucial to the social and economic life of the city's communities, a reality underlined by the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. This grant - of up to £20,000 - will allow communities to develop temporary projects to help bring more life to the spaces created for safe movement and trading within town centres.

Applications can be for a variety of capital works, including refitting a vacant shop unit for food pantry use, purchasing electric cargo bikes for food distribution, or making a new public space more attractive. The GTCAP grants are for capital works only - they cannot be used for administration or revenue costs.

All works must be contractually committed by March 2021 and all capital works completed by September 2021.

Projects should be delivered through partnerships with local delivery agencies, to maximise the reach and impact of the funding as well as supporting the council's commitment to Inclusive Growth.

Please go to www.glasgow.gov.uk/gtcap to see application guidance and application form. The deadline for funding applications is Friday, 20 November.

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convener for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm at Glasgow City Council, said: "This funding for pantries and other projects will bring services and features to our town centres and local shopping areas that help people access good and reasonably-priced food, distribute that food, and improve our local public spaces. At this time, our local centres are playing a key role in our neighbourhoods. If you think you can deliver one of these valuable services to a Glasgow community, please submit an application."

A webinar on 11 November will provide advice on how organisations can apply, and how successful applicants can best use the grant.  To register for this webinar, please go to: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1314546826086248974