Portas Pilots plea to boost Rotherham shopping: VIDEO

Rotherham College of Arts and Technology students Liam Norbury and Jonny Shaw filmed a special video message (see below) to Ms Portas to ask her to back the town by making it one of her Portas Pilot areas.

Under the scheme, cash will be given to 12 areas across the country to be spent on developing town centre trade.

Liam and Jonny’s video features a plea for a share of the cash by Hamby’s shoe shop owner Chris Hamby and Kara Chapman, who runs the Whistle Stop Sweet Shop.

Also featured are Wingfield student Tyler Green, who highlights the work done by the ground-breaking Rotherham Ready enterprise scheme, and Rotherham Borough Council leader Roger Stone,  who calls on Ms Portas to help continue the work being done in the borough thanks to initiatives like the Business Vitality Grants Scheme.

Mary Portas visited Rotherham last year and used many of the initiatives in the town as the basis for her report for the Government on the state of Britain’s high streets.

That report prompted the Government to put up £1m for the Portas Pilots scheme.

Successful towns will be given up to £100,000 to spend during 2012/13.

It is understood that money allocated by the Government will be boosted by “matched” funding from other sources.

Tim O’Connell, the borough council’s head of business and retail investment, said: “If Mary’s willing to add her support to this bid then we can continue to raise standards and improve the long-term prospects of businesses.”