The Future High Street Fund (FHSF) is led by the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The national fund is £1billion and will be used to renew and reshape town centres and high streets through transformational schemes to improve experience, drive growth and ensure future sustainability.

Barnstaple’s FHSF bid was submitted to MHCLG in July 2020. We requested £9.45million for four projects in the town, which would provide a direct link from the Queen Street/Bear Street car park to the Pannier Market, high street and through to the river front. Together, the improvement projects form the ‘Market Quarter’, which was developed with the aim of transforming the town into one where residents have access to good quality retail, leisure and open spaces, local businesses thrive in fit-for-purpose spaces and visitors want to visit and spend money.

We were ultimately awarded 69% of our bid and will borrow the shortfall to enable all four projects to go ahead.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop and regenerate Barnstaple, to improve the quality of the environment, ensure future resilience and facilitate transformational change.