Four projects which aim to attract new visitors to North Devon’s coastal communities will go ahead after they were each  awarded £10,000 by the Government’s Coast Community Fund.

Coastal Community Teams in Fremington Quay, Ilfracombe, Barnstaple and Lyn Valley will now each benefit from the funding  to  help kick start project designed to help the local economies.

In total 100  Coastal Community Teams across the country will be  benefiting from the funding.

In a statement, Coastal Communities Minister Mark Francois said “Coastal Community Teams will help decide where that investment goes because local people know best what is needed to grow their local economy. We are backing them with £1 million of direct support and the Budget also confirmed last week that at least £90 million more will be spent in the coming years through the Coastal Community Fund, which these teams will have access to.”

That is good news for North Devon and especially for Fremington Quay which will be looking to increase visitor numbers to the area through  walking, cycling and potentially by sea.

Barnstaple will be focusing on maritime heritage and using this funding to attract more visitors to the town for longer. Ilfracombe will use the successful regeneration of the harbour area to help benefit the  local economy and  Lyn Valley will also be looking to  increase visitors by sea and to look at new media as a way to market the area and to build on the success of the Valley of Rocks as a filming location

The funding is to be spent by March 2016. More information about the announcement can be found on the GOV.UK website.

A report will becoming to the Fremington Quay Management Committee of which I am a member and to the Full Fremington Parish Council in due course.

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