Market Towns Initiative (MTI)

Market towns were traditionally vital and energetic places where farmers and other local producers would meet on certain days of the week or month to sell produce, exchange news and enjoy themselves in the inns and restaurants.

The Market Towns Initiative aims to put the heart back into small market towns that have seen shoppers and producers drift away to other towns with the consequent loss to the local economy and the confidence of the town. As relevant projects occur we will add them to this section of the Regeneration website.

The initiative, which finishes in March 2005, is funded by SEEDA - the South East England Regional Development Agency - and the Countryside Agency.
The aim is to encourage local partnerships of people representing as many local community interests as possible to take hold of their towns and shape their future, turning them into places that meet the needs of the whole community.

On the Island, three towns - Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor - were given the opportunity to apply for substantial sums of money from the Countryside Agency. Sandown - the first town in the South East region to be allowed to apply for the funds – was awarded £240,000. Ventnor was awarded the same amount and Shanklin £160,000 - constituting a significant investment in the South East Wight coastal area.

Three other Island towns - Brading, Cowes and Wootton Bridge - won smaller amounts of funding, enough to pay for advice and project management support in drawing up town or village action plans. They can use these strategic plans to back any application for grant-funding.
Find out more about the Market Towns Initiative at:

The Countryside Agency website

Action for Market Towns website