Funding news

Oldham Council has handed out £266,000 in small grants to 25 town-centre traders so they can repaint, re-sign and refresh their shop fronts. The awards, confirmed on 16 January, come from the council's wider £20 million 'Growing Oldham' pot that was locked into the 2025-26 budget last March.

Each business received a share of the £266,000, though the council has not published individual amounts. The money can only be spent on external improvements, so shoppers should notice new lighting, repaired fascias and cleaner paintwork as spring trading picks up.

The grants arrive after councillors said their books are 'on the road to recovery' following 14 years of government cuts. March's budget added the £20 million growth package, earmarked for culture, sport, education, housing and firms, signalling the first real-terms increase in local capital spending since 2011.

Alongside the facelift fund, the council is planting 40 free digital-help desks in libraries, leisure centres and parks so residents who struggle with online forms or benefit claims can sit down with a trained volunteer. Officers say the twin track-prettier storefronts plus easier online access-should keep footfall and spending inside the borough rather than drifting to Manchester or Rochdale.

No deadline has been set for finishing the shop-front works, but traders must prove they have spent the cash by the end of the financial year. If the improvement zone delivers the hoped-for rise in trade, the council has hinted it will open a second round of grants before Christmas.