Following a successful drop-in event by Fife Council earlier this month, questionnaires are now available for Cupar residents to share their views on the Cupar CARS and THI.

Cupar CARS will fund essential repairs and improvements to the historic streetscape and buildings of Cupar's Conservation Area.

Historic Scotland has awarded £1m towards the scheme, while the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded £28,500 towards Fife Council developing proposals to secure an additional £550,000 towards the scheme, through its Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) programme.

It is hoped that the CARS and THI will be run together, commencing in April 2014, and will be managed in partnership with Fife Historic Buildings Trust.

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CARS/THI schemes aim to encourage local authorities to invest in their historic environment, whilst helping to stimulate economic regeneration.

Key projects in Cupar will include the Burgh Chambers, grants for repairs to privately-owned historic buildings, improvements to selected closes and an extensive training scheme in traditional skills.

Questionnaires are now available online to seek feedback from residents within Cupar's town centre on three of these elements:

• The future of Cupar's Burgh Chambers
• The opinions of owners of traditional buildings in central Cupar on the maintenance and repair of these buildings and the availability of suitably skilled contractors to carry out work to them
• Views and input from contractors working in the Cupar area to shape how the CARS and THI could develop or improve existing traditional building skills, for example through training or support for taking on apprentices.

The questionnaires can be found via the Fife Council website.

The feedback will help finalise the scheme and shape the grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Lorraine Bell, Fife Council CARS Officer, said: "It's really important that we get input from the local community – we need to show potential funders that local people support the scheme. Please do access the questionnaires and give us your views."

(JP/MH)