Council plans to spend £170,000 in the next 12 months on two schemes to regenerate the borough's ailing high streets were approved on Thursday.

Under the first project, which will be entitled Centre Vision, one overall town centre manager will be given the task of making each of the four major town centres in the borough more attractive to shoppers.

Separate managers for the areas covered by Barnet Council's town centre fora will be appointed in July and will commission market research to find out what sort of shops customers want to see in town centres and then invite retailers in other areas to open shops in Barnet on the basis of that demand.

The town centre managers would be appointed for Chipping Barnet, New and East Barnet; Edgware, Burnt Oak and Mill Hill; Golders Green and Temple Fortune; and Finchley. They will aim to improve the shoppers' experiences through schemes such as putting up product displays in empty shops and encouraging traders to clean up graffiti on their own shops.

As well as receiving £71,000 from the council, the project will be backed by the Civic Trust Regeneration Unit.

The council is also putting £100,000 towards a job creation project covering Barnet and Enfield using the Internet.

After conducting research into what new skills and technology small businesses need, Barnet College will train the staff of 150 businesses in marketing and information technology over the Internet.

Traders will be taught how to promote their shops as attractive places to visit. There will also be customer service training on offer to local companies.

The European Social Fund has given £650,000 towards the £1.5million project, which has the cumbersome title of Urban Partnership Barnet and Enfield ADAPT Towncentre. The rest of the money will come from other groups involved in the project, including the North London Training and Enterprise Council and private businesses.

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