Tamworth Reality Trail

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A new augmented reality trail is to be developed for Tamworth town centre in Staffordshire as part of new funding aimed at encouraging people back to the high street in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Tamworth Borough Council has been awarded £67,455 from the European Regional Development Fund's Welcome Back Fund to help support the wider reopening of the town centre through a variety of activities. As well as the development of the augmented reality trail, the money will also be used to carry out improvements to the town centre, including additional deep cleans, painting and new bins. The new reality trail will bring history to life using virtual reality technology. This will build on the successful augmented reality trail launched in Tamworth Castle earlier this year. The trail app will be free to download and will highlight some of the town's historical people and places. It is hoped the trail will include 10 to 15 points of interest that will help bring new visitors into the town centre.



The Welcome Back Fund will pay for three additional town centre deep cleans. This will include steam cleaning and jet-washing of hard standing areas, and cleansing along shop fronts, street furniture and litter bins. Additional bins will be placed around the centre to reduce littering and street furniture will be refurbished and painted where needed. A series of promotional campaigns will be created with the aim of highlighting Tamworth and its businesses in a more prominent way and marketed to wider audiences across the region. This could include the creation of a pub and restaurant trail, improvements to the Visit Tamworth website and new promotional videos. Councillor Daniel Cook, Tamworth Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Economy and Waste, said: "We're delighted to have been awarded this money from the Welcome Back Fund as an extension to the activities we carried out through our 'Shop Safe' campaign last year. The funding is purely focused on helping local economies to bounce back after Covid and encouraging people back to their high streets. We've got until March next year to spend this money, so we'll be working with businesses and partners in the coming weeks and months on the timing of activities so they can have maximum impact."



His colleague Paul Brindley, who helped identify areas that need improving in the town as part of his role as Heritage Champion, said: "First impressions are so important, not only for people visiting the area for the first time, but also our residents, who we want to encourage back to the town centre after Covid. We all have our part to play in revitalising the town centre, and businesses and shoppers deserve to spend their time in an attractive, tidy and clean environment."

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