Circular Malton & Norton wins national town competition
Visa, in partnership with the British Retail Consortium, has announced Malton and Norton bid as one of the six winners of the 2025 “Let’s Celebrate Towns” awards, recognising it for its outstanding local initiative.
Awarded within the Circularity category, the towns will receive £20,000 for a new or ongoing community project.
The initiative is aimed at driving economic development, job creation, and an environment conducive to small business success.
An invitation to the House of Lords for the shortlisted 50 towns in VISA and British Retail Consortium’s third year of their “Let’s Celebrate Towns” competition, saw Malton and Norton awarded Best Circular Champion.
Beating six other towns shortlisted in this category including Cheltenham and Wimbledon, the award presenter spoke of circular town champions being pioneers, the circular economy being the future of towns and with the breadth of Malton and Norton’s work standing out.
Sue Jefferson, former Board Director of Scarborough’s McCain Foods and Co-Founder and Director of Malton & Norton CIC said: “This award is very special as it recognises not just our ambitious vision to become the first circular market town but the hard work over several years by all our volunteers in making this a reality.
“Our work covers the development of innovative community energy from local food waste, an upcycling shop and studio and most recently launching the UK’s first sustainable town map, welcomed by locals and visitors as we champion many independent businesses working hard to underpin their services with sustainable practices.
“With our recent move setting up a circular hub on the high street in Malton, we are very grateful for the recognition and prize money as this can now enable us to deliver an exciting programme of fun varied events to prompt environmental behaviour change, skill based workshops and the launch of a home energy advice service”.
Mandy Lamb, Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Visa, said: “We believe that when our towns thrive, the UK as a whole flourishes. Many people live and work in these vibrant communities, making it essential to invest in their growth and development.
“We are proud to highlight the resilience and innovation that define these towns, reinforcing our support for nurturing prosperity and economic opportunity across the UK.”
The value of adopting a circular economy is the three way benefit of social, economic and environmental gains – saving money as well as the planet – all creating local opportunities for residents and businesses in the many North Yorkshire towns and beyond.
The impact of the work by the Circular Malton and Norton CIC team has seen them appointed to be a pathfinder to the UK government’s circular economy taskforce, providing valuable ways on how to engage people in everyday change.
Building on the previous start up support from the National Lottery Community Fund, Net Zero Hub and North Yorkshire Council’s Shared Prosperity Fund, the Let’s Celebrate Towns award will see the circular ways of doing things in Malton and Norton go from strength to strength.
With this competition prize money, the CIC can now significantly enhance the most recent support by David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire and his vibrant high street mayoral fund as the CIC team work with neighbouring businesses to champion their new home of Wheelgate with a calendar of exciting events.