Coastal heritage gets a £1m boost from UK Government

More than 20 coastal projects around England are to benefit from a share of almost £1m from the UK Government’s Coastal Revival Fund. In total, some 23 sites will receive the cash injection, with the object of helping to restore community assets and landmarks to their former glory.

Banksy’s Pinwheel in Weston-super-Mare, which was donated by the graffiti artist after his successful Dismaland exhibition in 2015, will be refurbished and given a permanent home by North Somerset Council, after the award of £50,000 from the Fund.

Also receiving this figure are projects to preserve Blackpool’s three historic piers, to rebuild the derelict Old Ship Inn in Cawsand, Cornwall – a Grade II listed pub that was destroyed by fire in 2013, but which was once a central point in the Cornish smuggling trade and is said to have been visited by Admiral Lord Nelson – and to revive and enhance Great Yarmouth’s Rows – a medieval street pattern made up of 150 narrow alleyways.

Further coastal sites that have been awarded funding are a historic golf course and a former ice cream factory turned environmental science hub in Sandown, Isle of Wight, a restoration project for the exterior of Lytham Hall, a Georgian Grade I listed building on the Fylde coast, and a conservation management plan for Saltburn Valleys, an historic Victorian public pleasure grounds on the Yorkshire coast.

The Coastal Revival Fund has delivered funding of £5.6m to 44 coastal projects since 2015, with grants intended to fund repairs and restoration and bring economic growth to coastal communities.

"Putting heritage at the heart of our coastal towns is an important way of attracting visitors and boosting our local economies," said Jake Berry MP, Coastal Communities Minister. "We’re determined to save these historic landmarks for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations while delivering on our promise to invest over a quarter of a billion pounds into the Great British Coast by 2020."