Household Support Fund extended, Town Centre Business Grants return, an update on Ashford Picturehouse and more

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Help with the Cost of Living
Eat Well Spend Less comes to Kennington
If you're struggling due to the cost of living crisis, please come along to our Eat Well Spend Less roadshow on Thursday 29 February from 10am to 2pm at St Mary's Community Centre, Rylands Road, Kennington TN24 9LL.
Get expert advice on looking after yourself (and your bank balance) as well as guidance on additional support services that may be available to you.
The event brings together a range of partner organisations including frontline NHS staff and Ashford Borough Council officers, outreach organisations and charities, in one easy-to-access place.
A list of what support is available on the day
Are you eligible for a one-off £100 to help heat or power your home?
Kent County Council has announced that their Household Support Fund scheme, which gives Ashford borough residents the opportunity to get financial assistance with the cost of energy has been extended.
The updated deadline to apply is now 12pm on Thursday 21 March 2024, or sooner if their budget is spent.
Find out more and apply
More support for our local businesses
Town Centre Business Grant scheme reopens next month
Applications for the next round of our town centre business grants scheme will soon recommence, providing businesses with the opportunity to apply for funding support of up to £3000 or £10,000 to bring empty premises back into use and enable improvements to their current properties. Once the scheme opens, you'll be able to apply on our dedicated web page
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Scale Up Ashford - can we help your business grow?
This year, the Scale Up Ashford programme is helping seven businesses within the borough by providing them with the advice and tools to support the growth of their business. This support is being delivered by Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and fully funded by Ashford Borough Council. We'd love to hear from other local businesses who are keen on joining next year's cohort. For more information and to register your interest in joining the programme visit our website.
Take a free digital skills course and get a guaranteed job interview
The government is offering free online and in-person based courses in cloud computing, software development, data and analytics, cybersecurity and web development which are all aimed at helping you to improve your digital skills.
Once you've completed your course, you'll get a guaranteed job interview and acquiring these in demand skills could result in you achieving a salary of over £70,000.
Employers who use Skills Bootcamps to train existing employees can access funding for up to 90% of the training costs.
Learn more and apply for a Skills Bootcamp today
Update on ABC services at Tenterden
With the closure of Tenterden Town Hall for refurbishment, Ashford Borough Council’s face to face service will be joining colleagues from Tenterden Town Council at their temporary pop-up location at Highbury Hall twice a month.
A Customer Service Advisor will be on hand on the first and third Wednesday of each month from 2pm to 4pm at Highbury Hall, Highbury Lane, Tenterden TN30 6LE. Our next session will be on Wednesday 6 March.
View a full list of times and dates
Still time to apply for energy efficiency upgrades
People living in homes which don’t have gas heating systems still have time to take advantage of a new grant scheme which provides energy efficiency and clean heating upgrades to households in the Ashford borough.
The grant will pay for energy-saving upgrades for residents who don’t heat their homes by mains gas. The improvements will help to use less energy, reduce your carbon footprint and spend less on energy bills. The scheme is funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Check if you are eligible
The show must go on
By Easter the Ashford Picturehouse at Elwick Place will come under new management. Picturehouse Cinemas will hand the six-screen cinema and restaurant to the council, and we will operate the venue with an industry specialist, and the same cinema staff.
Once we knew Picturehouse were handing their lease over, we felt it was important to take action. Rather than stand-by and do nothing, we decided we should step in and, for the benefit of the local community, do all we can to keep our town centre cinema and entertainment offer at Elwick Place open for business.
Without our intervention, it would have closed at the turn of the new year, creating immediate job losses, not to mention the adverse effect it could have had on other Elwick tenants. More information is available in our initial statement
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We are currently in a transition period with the anticipated handover happening before Easter, however for the moment it’s very much business as usual for cinema goers.
Picturehouse Members will be contacted directly about any time remaining on their account and customers with pre-bookings will be notified about their upcoming ticket bookings.
Visit Ashford Picturehouse
And finally...
Want to work for a borough council that puts people first and understands how important employee wellbeing is? We'd love to hear from you - view a full list of vacancies and apply today
We've recently reached over 3,500 subscribers for our resident's newsletter so we just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone. We hope you're enjoying these mini editions, but if you've seen something that you want us to feature - get in touch with us: news@ashford.gov.uk
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