by Andy Gray

Two Sittingbourne groups will share £35,000 to help rejuvenate the town centre.

Environmental art charity Litter Angels teamed up with Sittingbourne Retail Association (SRA) to bid for the cash.

It was awarded from Swale council’s High Street Innovation Fund, a programme set up by the government in response to the Portas review.

The plan for Sittingbourne is to create a town management team which will organise events throughout the year to entice people into town.

SRA chairman Nick Smith said: “Our aim is to brighten the outlook of the High Street in the coming months and introduce a website for the town centre.

“Retail sales in town centres are dropping and they need public support to survive.”

Litter Angels will take an empty High Street shop and transform it into a hive of activity with events and workshops for creative subjects such as poetry, photography, film, drawing and music.

The project will run from June to December and the shop will also be used as a place to promote the programme and upcoming activities.

Ideas include a summer garden party which will see the High Street decked with flowers, banners and bunting.

Other plans include Creating Christmas, in which a local choir will give evening performances to encourage late shopping.

There is also a plan to reinvent the town’s St George’s Day celebrations with an English farmers’ market, afternoon tea parties, story-telling and a tug-of-war contest.

A parking voucher scheme could be introduced which will offer SRA members a refund on parking tickets when they shop in the High Street.

A plan to move Sittingbourne Market into the High Street has also been mooted.

Cllr John Wright, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Their joint bid ticked a lot of boxes. I wish the project well and look forward to supporting the events.”