Newport City Council has successfully secured funding from the Welsh Government’s Town Centre Repayable Funding scheme (TCRF) to support the re-development of properties in the city centre.
This £1m fund is available to provide loans to potential developers and investors who wish to bring vacant or under-utilised property into use.
We are seeking expressions of interest from credible interested parties with well-developed project plans.
Expressions of interest are closed for this scheme, however if you have a project that you feel may be eligible please contact us (details beloe) for an informal discussion.
To be eligible for the TCRF your project must:
- Reduce vacant, under-utilised and redundant floor-space and premises in the city centre
- Support diversification of the city centre economy by encouraging more sustainable uses for empty sites and premises, such as offices, residential, leisure or key services
Priority areas
Applications relating to properties situated within the Primary and Secondary Shopping Frontages and the Café Quarter (as defined by policies R2, R3 and R5 of the Newport Local Development Plan) will be given priority.
These areas include much of Commercial Street, High Street and Cambrian Road.
Once applications relating to these priority areas have been considered, other projects across the wider city centre area will be examined.
Loans
Loans may be for any sum between £250,000 and £1,000,000.
Any loan must be interest free, however, the authority does charge a one-off administrative fee.
Loans may be towards the cost of works or acquisitions and shall repaid in full by no later than five years from the date of the award.
Requirements
Applicants for the loan need to agree to the following requirements:
Loan to value assessment - the council will insist on a maximum 80% LTV ratio and independent validation of the value of the property
Land charges/restriction in favour of the council – secondary charges will only be considered where sufficient value exists value exists to secure the council’s funding in addition to that of the primary lender
Loan agreement – which will cover the full financial arrangements, your obligation to achieve completion of the project and any agreed outputs
Repayment schedule – detailing in full how you intend to repay the loan
Schedule of works – detailing the works to be completed using the loan funding
Statutory consents – the project will either have secured any relevant development consents (i.e. full planning, Listed Building and building regulations approval), or the interested party shall commit to achieve the relevant consents prior to any draw down of loan funding
Appropriate full due diligence shall be undertaken in respect of any application to the council.
In selecting the scheme awarded funding, the council will consider a range of factors, including the relevance of your project to our strategic aims for the regeneration of the city centre as well as risk, outputs delivered and additional investment.
All loans are at the sole discretion of the council and its decision is final.
Previous recipients of financial support may only apply if any project which received prior funding is now complete to the satisfaction of the council, and there are no debts of any kind owed to the council.
Download the TCRF expression of interest form (pdf)
Or download a Word version of the TCRF expression of interest form.
Expressions of interest must be received by 20 September 2019.
Please note that submission of a satisfactory expression of interest does not constitute an offer of funding nor confer any obligation on the council to award any funding to your project.
Information to be included
You must submit the following information at a minimum - only written or emailed expressions of interest are acceptable.
Property information including location, tenure, existing charges on the property and existing use
Project details including what you want to use the funding for, and why. If possible, you should show how your project will help deliver the four core aims of the City Centre Masterplan
Loan request including total sum and indicative term
Repayment plan including how and when you intend to repay your loan sum
Indicative project programme and outputs e.g. for example, additional investment leveraged, jobs created, commercial floor space refurbished, housing units created, etc.
Contact details
To submit an expression of interest in the TCRF, or for an informal discussion, please email [email protected] or telephone (01633) 233605.