A MAINDEE regeneration project has been awarded £365,000 for a three-year, arts-led scheme.

A consortium of Maindee and Newport organisations has been given the cash by the Arts Council of Wales for “Finding Maindee”, a three year arts-led regeneration project starting in 2015.

The project is led by Maindee Festival Association working in partnership with Maindee Action Group, Maindee Parochial Church Council, Community First Central Newport Cluster; Charter Housing Association, Newport City Council; Maindee Action Group, Cynefin Maindee, Gwent Arts in Health and South East Wales Regional Equality Council.

The programme has been steered by a group called “Maindee Unlimited” which was formed in November. Its founding trustees are all local residents, including retired police officer, David Moses, as chairman. The group say they this award is seen as the starting point for additional funding, adding that additional funds have been awarded as a result of this vote of confidence in the area.

A further £38,000 from the Welsh Government has been given for the development of the Maindee district shopping centre on Chepstow Road and £20,000 from the Peoples Health Trust to improve a neglected area of land on the corner of Wharf Road and Corporation Road.

Neil Binnell, Maindee Festival Chairperson, said: “We are delighted to receive this major award on behalf of the partnership and our local community. It will help give Maindee the significant boost it so urgently needs”

Nathalie Camus from the Arts Council of Wales said: “We were very impressed with the quality and ambition of Maindee Festival’s bid and are confident that the partnership will adopt a thoughtful and creative approach to regeneration that connects and empowers the local community to directly contribute to the regeneration process”.

John Hallam, Finding Maindee’s Programme Manager, said: Policy makers often talk about the need to engage and involve communities in local regeneration but tend to keep control of the resources needed to make the change. Our approach is different. We want to see resources in the hands of Maindee residents. Some may say that’s a risky thing to try to do and better left to the professionals. So we are all working together to building a robust governance framework, effective partnerships with statutory services and the best professional support where that’s needed. Millions is spent on major top down regeneration programmes that often fail to make the basic changes needed by local people, so an alternative model for Maindee really seems worth testing out. ”

Maindee Festival Association will initially hold the contract for the Arts Council of Wales’ award, but is now in discussion with ACW about transferring this legal responsibility to Maindee Unlimited in April 2015.