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Hello. I'm here in Deptford to see some of the brilliant ideas they've got
about bringing some of the fantastic artistic community onto their high street.
It's all part of a wider campaign, which we're launching this week,
where we're funding just over 300 different Town Team Partners
to help rejuvenate many of our high streets.
What it means is trying to make sure that each of those 326 Town Team Partners
can access the help they need to start up, including £10,000 to get them going.
They also benefit from being able to tap-in to dedicated support and advice
from, perhaps some of the best people who know about this sort of thing,
namely the Association of Town Centre Managers.
It's about helping those teams - the local traders, local civic leaders
to come together, learn from other people
and make sure that their high streets are able to compete.
We're also making sure that the Town Team Partners are now able learn
not just from the original Portas Pilots, but also from that wider network.
What works in an urban area? What works in a suburban area?
How did you make your market actually prosper?
It's those sorts of things, that by sharing in a direct network of Town Team Partners
we feel has the best chance of enabling places like Deptford to be able to progress.
Now don't get me wrong, I think that what they're doing here is fantastic.
Our job is to help that, not to try to restrain it or control it.
Working from an organic basis, letting the genuine enthusiasm and passion work here,
building on their existing high street stores, and their existing local independence,
and then blending that with the strongest artistic community in this part of London,
really gives them an edge.
And that's why it's been a great pleasure to come down and see real action on the ground
that the Government's Town Team Partners scheme is going to be able to help to boost.