Twenty shopfronts in Helensburgh and the surrounding villages could be improved thanks to council grants.
The idea is being proposed by Argyll and Bute Council – together with a £41,000 grant to help buy a community hub in Helensburgh.
A report has revealed that Helensburgh Community Hall Ltd will receive the funding ‘to help towards the purchase of the building, and also in returning the property to a good state of repair as a community hub and wellbeing centre’.
The funding will come from a recent grant received by the authority from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Capital fund.
The Scottish Land Fund recently gave the trust £160,000 to help with the purchase of the Red Cross Hall on East Princes Street.
The council has been allocated £444,000 from the fund, which will be shared evenly through its four administrative areas.
The remaining £70,000 given to Helensburgh and Lomond will be used for shopfronts across the area to build on the ‘shop local’ initiative.
Ten or more grants would be in Helensburgh and the same number in ‘Lomond villages with a population of 1,000 or more’.
Permissions would be sought and property owners would be required to contribute.
Councillors will be asked to approve a full list of capital projects at a meeting on Thursday.
Council executive director Kirsty Flanagan said in a covering report: “Due to the immediate need to build resilience within the economy, the aim of the fund is to support construction activity within town centres.
“A key constraint of the fund is therefore the tight timeline to physically deliver capital projects within the current financial year, or at the very least, agree a signed contract for the works or be started on site by April 1, 2021.
“Consequently, it is likely that any works we can support are part of an established programme of works, potential match funding is in place if required, and staff/community resources are in place to deliver the identified capital projects.
“Projects have been chosen to support the viability of our town centres and where possible linked to either a town centre action plan that has often been taken forward through a making places initiative.
“To achieve a range of capital projects that will make a meaningful difference there is a need to make quick decisions and link where possible to established programmes of work.”
The Scottish Land Fund awarded the funding to Helensburgh Community Hall Ltd in September and a crowdfunding campaign to secure further funds is currently ongoing.
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