The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has just produced its final evaluation of the Coastal Communities Fund, which ran over 5 bidding rounds between 2012 and 2022, awarding over 180 grants to projects in England totalling £188m.
Details of all funded projects in over the 5 bidding rounds, together with details about the separate Coastal Revival Fund, can be found at this link to the GOV.UK website.
The programme focused on a single outcome: that coastal communities will experience regeneration and sustainable economic growth through projects that directly or indirectly attract sustainable jobs, and safeguard existing jobs.
The evaluation used a multi-methods approach in order to understand the impact of the programme, including interviews with key people who were either involved in the implementation of the programme, or were key stakeholders in it on a national level; a retrospective review of data gathered by the CCF programme during implementation; and 21 in-depth case studies of projects funded by CCF, including schemes across all 5 rounds of funding.
Images: Cornwall’s St. Austell Bay Economic Forum was awarded a grant of £1,093,520 in the 5th round of the Coastal Communities Fund in 2018 for a project aimed at transforming the St Austell area as a visitor destination. The funding was designed to support a programme of public realm, cultural initiatives, events and skills training to attract more visitors and extend the tourist season.