Tag: Interreg

Effective local partnerships: Withington Village

One of the shops painted as part of the Withington Walls project

by Dr Steve Millington and Tom Hindmarch

Withington has been in the news of late, mainly thanks to the Withington Walls project and the completion of a Marcus Rashford mural in the Village (featured on Match on the Day). This is an example of one several projects instigated by a highly effective local partnership, which the IPM has been working with as part of the INTERREG funded project – ABCitEs.

This project, involving a network of five municipality-university partnerships across the EU (Amsterdam, Athens, Manchester, Varaždin/Čakovec, and Vilnius), provides an opportunity for each of the cities to exchange ideas and knowledge about ABCE (Area-Based Collaborative Enterprise). Each partnership is analysing how local traders and other place-based stakeholders collaborate to bring about place-based improvements to the local business environment. Findings from the project are informing the development of new policy guidance, which will enable each local authority to better support clusters of local businesses in places such as local high streets.

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European fund to improve town centre policy

Norther Quarter, Manchester
By Mikey from Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK – High Street, Manchester, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34807477

Manchester is one of five European regions set to benefit from a new European fund designed to help regional and local governments to develop and deliver better town centre policy.

The Institute of Place Management (IPM) at Manchester Metropolitan University will utilise part of a £1.5 million grant from the European funding body Interreg, to investigate how companies, councils and other local groups can work together more effectively to improve their town centres.  One of the major outcomes of the work will be a nationwide audit of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and their achievements.

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