FIVE high streets in Brighton and Hove are set to receive a total of more than £300,000 of European funding to help “build back better” after the pandemic.

The Welcome Back Fund will target Portland Road, Boundary Road and George Street in Hove, as well as London Road and St James’s Street in Brighton.

The money has to be spent by March 31 next year and can be spent on things including digital advertising, local shop campaigns, planters and parklets, temporary lighting, and outdoor heating.

It could also be spent on things including legal graffiti spaces, maintenance of public toilets, artwork and flowers.

Community groups around the areas can let council officers know what they would like in their area by filling in a survey online here.

Councils across England are to share £56m of European Regional Develop Fund (ERDF) funding to support the return to high streets safely and help build back better from the pandemic.

This funding is known as the “Welcome Back Fund” and it builds on the £50m Reopening High Street Safely Fund allocated to councils in 2020.

Brighton and Hove received £295,269 under the High Street Safely Fund and will receive a further £324,269.

In total, the city will have received £583,538 from the ERDF.

A ERDF report outlining the funding states: “This forms part of wider support government is providing to communities and businesses, to protect jobs, support the most vulnerable and ensure no one is left behind as we continue to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and begin to build back better.

“The fund will allow local authorities in England to put in place additional measures to create and promote a safe environment for local trade and tourism, particularly in high streets as their economies reopen. We also recognise that the impact of Covid19 on local economies will be significant.

“Local authorities can therefore also use the fund to develop plans for responding to these impacts, this could include considering how other funding streams could help address those challenges in the future.”

Robert Nemeth, who represents Wish Ward which contains Boundary Road, said: “This funding has the potential to make a huge difference on key streets in Hove and Portslade.

“We’ll be pushing hard for the right projects to be chosen that have the greatest economic impact for small businesses.”