REVITALISING an entire North Yorkshire town is a pretty fair reason to pitch for the title of Evening Press Best Environmental Company of the Year.

That is the proud claim of Fitzwilliam (Malton) Estates which for 300 years has owned a sizeable chunk of land, housing and commercial property in the centre of Malton.

In 1997, its new estate manager, Roddy Bushell, decided to seek help from Ryedale District Council, Malton Town Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Malton and Norton Chamber of Trade and his own tenants to turn around Malton's ailing fortunes.

The result was an environmental strategy for the town centre with the aim of "attracting shoppers, new retail outlets and office-based businesses to the town."

The estate introduced a rolling programme on investment and building improvement, revamping its 15 empty shops, and set up a policy of bringing underused and empty properties back into use.

Now 27 new businesses have been attracted to Malton, including local retailers and national chains, and 16 new flats, home to 27 people, have been created, mostly from under-used space above shops in the town centre.

What is more, the estate began a process of adapting old Georgian and Victorian buildings to modern office standards with computer cabling and broadband access, but using traditional building methods to preserve the historic character of the buildings.

The estate pays 25 per cent of the cost of a town centre manager, a post now in its fifth year, in order to manage environmental issues in Malton.

Updated: 15:33 Tuesday, August 03, 2004