Shopping parades in Ipswich will soon be transformed thanks to newfound funding.

Ipswich Borough Council has announced that 13 applicants have been awarded grants to improve their facilities.

Funding has been allocated through the Towns Fund, a national scheme from the government, and the Local Shopping Parades Towns Fund project, which is designed to improve neighbourhood shopping areas and bring them up to date.

Altogether, the project totals £2.81million.

The Chantry Residents Association, Ipswich BMX, Emmaus Suffolk and St Mary Stoke Church are among the community groups to have secured funding.

The Chantry Residents Association will be making improvements to its charity shop, install a defibrillator and installing a gazebo to be used at outreach events aimed at helping local people.

Meanwhile, Ipswich BMX will be improving their community kitchen, installing a hatch, flooring and a safety handrails for riders.

Tracey Reeve, volunteer project lead, said: “Support from the Towns Fund has been invaluable and without it we would be struggling to complete the work. The kitchen/medical room fit out, and flooring in the clubhouse, has been planned, but not yet completed. We’re now hoping to have the work completed in March 2024. 

“Thank you again for the Towns Fund support, with this support and other funders it is allowing us to be sustainable as well as to provide longevity for the club.”

Azzouz El-Mahraoui is Ipswich Borough Council’s Local Shopping Parades project board chair.

He said: “Updates to Community facilities have been needed for some time and it’s great to see this happening now, linked to the wider improvements on the parades throughout the borough.

“This project is an example of how to get people engaged and using their local shopping parades again.”