What happened to Rothesay’s THI project?

It made national news in May when Rothesay’s Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) was awarded £1.5m funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but nearly five months on there has been no considerable change to the seafront in Rothesay and, as demonstrated on Facebook’s HaveYourSay On Bute page in the months since then, some people have begun already to lose heart.

Project coordinator Lorna Pearce, however, says the project is going well and there is a lot more to come.

“We’re a lot further forward than most THI’s when they start,” Lorna told ButeBites. “They are always slow to start, it tends to be year three people turn around their ideas.”

Part of Argyll Bute Council’s CHORD – a project set up to regenerate the town centre and sea front areas of Campbeltown, Helensburgh, Oban, Rothesay and Dunoon – the Rothesay THI project will provide access to funding for business owners and tenants to improve the appearances of buildings in the town centre, particularly surrounding the town’s Guildford Square and East Princes Street.

“The project runs until March 2016 but the bulk of the work needs to be completed by March 2015 because there will be a year of evaluation. The £1.5m is Heritage Lottery Funding and the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) is a Heritage Lottery Fund project,” Lorna said.

Although the award has been made to Rothesay’s THI, every penny still has to be approved before it is spent.

“The £1.5m doesn’t sit in a bank account somewhere, Argyll Bute Council acts like a bank pay roll – we have to justify how the money will be spent before it’s released.

“The £1.5m is there, it’s ring-fenced, but we need to prove the work is up to the standard required for payout,” Lorna continued.

Rothesay’s THI has four funders – the Heritage Lottery Fund, LEADER, Historic Scotland and Argyll

To read the rest of this article click here. Originally published by Bute Bites.