Towns Fund - Town Investment Plan

In 2019, 100 towns across the UK were selected to bid for up to £25 million investment from the governments Town Fund. Aimed at increasing the economic growth of towns, each town had to provide a Town Investment Plan with a focus on tangible regeneration, improved transport, digital connectivity, and skills and training projects.

Community Engagement 

Engagement with project and community stakeholders and local buy-in were essential to developing the plan and achieving match-funding, promotion and support for each town’s bid. While this was at times challenging during Covid restrictions, Heta lead a process that involved synthesising the outputs of various engagement for including digital suggestion boards, symposiums, social media, town halls, project consultation, and the creation of ‘Engagement Storyboards’ by Heta which were printed and shared with the community groups and displayed publicly for feedback. Working with our client groups, Heta developed the language, tone, look and feel and visuals for each town; for coastal towns Mablethorpe and Skegness, this reflected the nostalgia of vintage coastal graphics and advertising from the area with a focus on wellness and modern twists such as new technologies and wind turbines; while for Boston, entries from a local photography competition were paired with digital graphics connecting to its focus on skills and training. This work connected with various stakeholders, inspiring them to take part in the development of the investment opportunities available and support each Town Investment Plans.  

Planning & Development 

Building on in-depth local research and engagement, a wide range of town-specific projects were identified by various stakeholders throughout the process. Heta worked with the project team to develop, visualise and articulate strategic links between local context and need, opportunities, projects and investment creating a clear narrative for the bid and visually enticing documentation to engage Government, Town Fund Board members, investors and the local public. 

Town Strategies

The driving vision and strategy was individual and tailored to each town ensuring that there was a clear localised narrative and response. The projects themselves, based on public feedback and board selection, aligned to the governments intervention framework and were each outlined as catalysts for local improvement and regeneration, economic growth and unlocking opportunities to deliver ongoing improvement. 

Boston: With a rich history as a key UK port and a strong future in agriculture, logistics and Agri-tech, the Boston Town Investment Plan focused on skills and enterprise, digital connectivity, health and regeneration to evolve Boston’s strengths with the support of its world-class network of assets and institutions. 

Mablethorpe: As part of a ‘Connected Coast’ strategy along the Lincolnshire shoreline, the strategy for Mablethorpe leverages its location and natural assets to improve health and wellness, resilience and the local visitor economy promoting linkages and opportunities in the town centre and along the sea.

Skegness: Home of the original Butlins and an iconic British seaside resort destination, the visitor economy is pivotal to Skegness. The strategy therefore was to enhance the visitor economy and promote further education and enterprise to diversify the town offering to lengthen the season and increase ongoing investment.