Making our Stowmarket
We are committed to creating the conditions that will help Stowmarket Town Centre thrive - and if our district's main market town thrives, it helps the towns and villages around it to do the same.
We all know that high streets are changing. Like most towns, Stowmarket is not immune from pressures such as online shopping, the pandemic, increased costs and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
We can't turn back the clock, but we can invest in the town's future.
Stowmarket already has a lot to be proud of. Its history and culture, the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, the Food Museum, The Mix, The Regal - as well as terrific independent businesses.
By working in partnership with others, we believe we can further revitalise the town centre so that it can thrive for generations to come.
We know that competition for people's time and attention is fiercer than ever, so we must make sure that we give people different reasons to visit the town centre and spend more time there.
A raft of new measures have been agreed to support the town centre, which are outlined on this webpage.
Stowmarket Town Centre Gateway Fund
In 2024, we agreed a £1.5 million fund to bring Stowmarket's empty town centre properties back into use.
This was made possible thanks to our income from Gateway 14, which is the nearby business, innovations and logistics park. The Fund brings together the owners of vacant units with potential high street tenants.
The first step is with landlords, to bring under-utilised properties (including empty shops) back into use. This might involve us buying buildings and then renting them out for a short term, or helping to support their refurbishment.
Potential occupiers who want a town centre presence are then supported to find a new location - which opens the door for new businesses, pop-ups and other ventures who are looking to launch their first store or space.
Encouraged types of use include arts and cultural experiences, tourism, community activities, retail, small business workspaces, leisure, food and drink and 'pop up' activities which bring something new to the town.
The first round of applications are open until 12pm on Friday 15 November 2024. Apply for the Stowmarket Town Centre Gateway Fund.
Stowmarket Town Centre Shopfront Scheme
As well as bringing vacant properties back into use, we also want to support Stowmarket's existing town centre premises - via a new matching funding scheme worth £400k - by helping them to improve the frontages of their town centre properties.
The Scheme is open to shops, community uses and commercial properties - especially those located in Ipswich Street, Bury Street, Tavern Street, Station Road West, Market Place, Wilkes Way and Crowe Street.
Funding can be used to make improvements like:
- rebranding shops with new signage
- vinyl graphics and signage
- canopies
- cladding
- accessibility improvements
- lighting
- new windows and/or doors
- shutters (for example, replacing old external shutters with internal systems)
- external security or reinstatement of traditional or historic features that have been lost
The maximum grant available per property is £10k. However, this could increase to £20k for exceptional applications.
Each application is expected to have a 40% match funding requirement - but this percentage may decrease in exceptional circumstances.
Apply for the Stowmarket Town Centre Shopfront Scheme
Enhanced Public Realm services
We want people to be proud of Stowmarket, and to want to spend as much time as possible in the town centre. Therefore, having a clean, welcoming and attractive environment is key.
We were pleased to support Stowmarket Town Centre's new town ranger service, with an investment of £50k.
We have now agreed to further help the town by investing in enhanced public realm services - including increased scheduled street cleaning and ground maintenance work in the town centre.
This builds on our 'Pride in Your Place' initiative, where every town and village within the district was given the opportunity to apply for funding towards improving the appearance and cleanliness of their communities.
Once again, this additional investment in Stowmarket has been made possible due to our income from Gateway 14.
Gateway 14
Gateway 14 is a 156 acre business, innovation and logistics park in Stowmarket (near Junction 50 of the A14).
This regionally and economically important business park - which is also part of Freeport East - is already home to a new distribution centre for home and garden centre The Range. This has created over 1,650 jobs for the local area.
The site will also be home to our new £18.75m state-of-the-art Skills and Innovation Centre - thought to be the first of its kind in the area, and offering opportunities for business growth, innovation, enterprise and training.
Plans for the three-storey centre include flexible onsite learning and teaching spaces, with a focus on emerging sectors linked to green and digital skills.
The facility will also offer business support services, and will become a hub for entrepreneurship, collaboration and innovation across the region.
As with all units at Gateway 14, the 35,000 square foot building will be built to be sustainable. It will meet a minimum BREAAM standard of 'excellent' - which means that the best possible energy saving and carbon reduction measures are in place.
Biodiversity on the site is also a priority. High-quality landscaping, green corridors and nesting boxes will be all be introduced across the site to support the wildlife and ecology, and to create a vibrant, attractive and healthy working environment for employees.
Local residents can read more information, and the latest news, about the site online.