Heritage Action Zone

Historic England worked with local people and partners through grant funding to help breathe new life into high streets that are rich in heritage and full of promise. Their work aimed to help unlock the potential of the local area and make them more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors.

The High Streets Heritage Action Zones scheme, backed by government funding, aims to help with the recovery of local high streets, from regenerating historic buildings to helping to engage local communities through art and cultural projects.

The Sun Pier to Star Hill conservation area was awarded £1.6m High Street Heritage Action Zone funding from Historic England for regeneration in the area in April 2020. The focus was on bringing the history and heritage of the area back to life and boosting the local economy.

Star Hill to Sun Pier conservation area with listed buildings and scheduled monuments map

Achievements through the High Street Heritage Action Zone

Thanks to the funding from Historic England, the Sun Pier to Star Hill conservation area has seen a number of improvements since 2020.

These include:

• 26 buildings have been given grants to help restore them
• 2 new shopfronts at Poco Loco Mexican Restaurant (60 High Street) and Gepetos (42 High Street) which was previously vacant
• 3 vacant/underused residential units brought back into use (including restoring a basement floor and bringing 2 vacant houses back into use through the rental and private sale market
• 3,410 sqm worth of commercial floorspace brought back into use. This included grants towards either conversion costs or professional fees. This has included 42 High Street, Decktronix, Ranscombe studios, Chatham House, Intra Arts basement floor an Sun Pier House
• 11 enabling grants leading to legacy projects
• over 16,000 people participated in our community engagement events
• handpainted signage at Mrs Sourdough, Siam Beauty and Rochester Pizza Lounge
• window repairs and replacements for both residential and commercial properties
• urgent repairs made to Chatham Memorial Synagogue.

Our Significance Led Developement Framework will help continue the legacy of this funding by guiding appropriate development for the future in a way that protects the heritage and character of the High Street. We've now adopted the development framework as a supplementary planning document along with a new Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan.

The framework includes the long-term vision for the area and the design principles to be adopted for future development that comes forward.

Download the Star Hill to Sun Pier Significance Led Development Framework.

Find out more

More about our past events, including community events.

Festival of Chatham Reach event