Welcome to Kington upon Thames

£2million Funding for Kingston

08/02/2012

Kingston Town Centre has been awarded over £2million of additional funding in the second round of Mayor Boris Johnson’s Outer London Fund.

Kingston has been awarded the largest single amount given to any of the London boroughs by the scheme, a total of £2,012,590.90. The funding will be used across four projects:

• Ancient Market Area – improvements to the market area to encourage better utilisation of space and an increase in the evening economy
• All Saints Church – to create a heritage attraction in the heart of the town centre
• Creative Youth – an additional performance space to be created to promote engagement and volunteering opportunities
• Kingstonfirst – continued enhancement of the Town Centre as a tourist hub, improving the digital provision and continuing the Tourism Kiosk project

Ros Morgan, Chief Executive of Kingstonfirst said: “We are delighted to receive such a substantial investment into the Town Centre. It will help us put Kingston on the map in the future and make us stand out from other towns in the area.”

Projects have been chosen against key criteria according to their potential to support the good work of the boroughs and their partners to nurture sustainable growth and improve the vitality of high streets across outer London. Projects already taking place from Round 1 funding include:

• Part funding of the Night Time Manager 
• Tourist Information Kiosk o This will be located outside Kingston Train Station and operating as a satellite to the main Tourist Information Centre 
• Tourism campaign to promote Kingston throughout the UK
• Development of a membership-based Tourism organisation
• Kingston web portal/destination management system

The Outer London Fund is part of a major package of investment which aims to boost local high streets, deliver growth, new jobs and improve lives.

This package is made up of the Mayor’s £70m Regeneration Fund and £50m from the Mayor’s Outer London Fund, plus additional match funding from local boroughs.