The Sea Change fund is a three year programme of funding for coastal resorts. Sea Change has an available fund of £45 million and one of the objectives is for coastal resorts to use the funding to act as a catalyst for wider economic regeneration. We understand that Blackpool, Dover and Torbay have been successful in their application to the fund.

The Vindolanda Trust and the National Maritime Museum (London) have been awarded £9 million worth of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The bid to bring more tourists to the Welsh Valleys has been boosted by £9m of European funding.  The money will go to schemes in five local authorities.   This investment will build on a £5m investment programme made earlier in the year for visitor attractions in the region.   Money is also going towards the £6m project to renovate the General Offices at the former Ebbw Vale Steelworks, which is due to open in 2 years as an interactive family history and genealogy centre.   Over the next 3 years, it is predicted that tourism investment in the region will top £23m. It is hoped that the projects will create around 400 jobs and attract an additional 355,000 visitors a year.

A project to repair the city walls surrounding Chichester, has been awarded £685,000 by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Chichester City Walls Partnership, Led by Chichester District Council, is looking to carry out the work over a 3 year period.

The City walls are 1,700 years old, are a scheduled monument and at 1.5 miles in length they are the most intact circuit of town or city walls in the south east of England. The HLF grant will also go towards funding community archaeological projects, providing disabled access and historical research.

Failte Ireland has recently launched a new €100m fund which will be invested in new and existing visitor attractions. The funding is provided under the National Development Plan.

Since starting some five years ago the Peak District Sustainable Development Fund has provided just under £1m in grant funding to help green projects in the National Park.

English Heritage is to receive additional funding over the next three years.    Funding will increase from £123.7m to £124.7m in 2008/09 and by 2010/11 it will have increased to £130.7m.

An interesting report in The Observer on the Big Lottery Fund’s The People’s Millions programme. The winner of the scheme will be decided by a televised vote. The six projects under consideration are: Waterlinks Project Somerset; Connect2. Sustrans National; Sherwood: The Living Legend Project East Midlands; The Eden Project Cornwall; Black Country as Urban  Park West Midlands; and Inspired Science Museum Swindon

This Money reports how Blackstone is making a significant return on its investment in Tussauds.