Welcome from WCC leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe

Hello and welcome again to Warwickshire Still Means Business.

I hope you are keeping safe and well as we start to take further, very careful steps out of lockdown and towards getting our businesses and the economy into recovery.

As part of that process, this week the county council has launched our Buy and Eat Local campaign with the objective of making sure that local businesses are fully supported in promoting their offers to the local community.

Under the Buy and Eat Local banner, with one click, the dedicated page on our website will take visitors straight to a directory of all businesses involved in the campaign in that town. Like all webpages, this will grow and grow as residents and visitors realise that they can play their part in boosting the local economy if they Buy and Eat Local. Please do get involved.

Lee Osborne of the Federation of Small Businesses is our Guest Columnist in this edition. Our thanks go to Lee for writing in support of our campaign, a subject very close to his heart, of course. Please be assured that Warwickshire County Council will be working hard along with the FSB and all our other partners to give businesses of every size and in every sector the support they need in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Since the last WSMB, the Government has given the green light for morebusinesses previously classed as non-essential to reopen their doors.  At Warwickshire County Council, we have been working with the districts and boroughs to make sure everything possible is being done to give these businesses the necessary stimulus when the time comes for them to reopen their doors.

We hosted an excellent webinar with partners, which gave a wide range of information to businesses looking to reopen and operate safely after lockdown. The event is on YouTube and well worth a look

Social distancing remains of paramount importance to keep shoppers and the staff in businesses on the High Street safe. Please read our article on how local authorities are working on a scheme of roadspace reallocation in all of the county’s main town centres. This will create space for cyclists and pedestrians and ensure that people can use the shops while maintaining safe social distancing.

WCC is now busy working with the District and Boroughs to look at how the Government’s new Discretionary Grant scheme is delivered, bringing together the local authorities and partners to ensure this is being targeted at the businesses most in need and to help establish a consistent programme across the county.  For the latest updates, please visit the local authority grant schemes page on our website. Please also visit the Government’s web pages about the scheme.

Attention is also turning to looking further ahead, moving from our initial response to the crisis to developing longer-term plans. It is essential that we do this, bearing in mind the challenges that lay ahead, and this will a collaborative effort with the District and Borough Councils and Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and form part of an overall Recovery Plan for the council.

Also in this edition of WMB, please read the uplifting story of how Tracey Redfearn, of Bobbinz, based at the Centenary Business Centre, has made and distributed more than 15,000 face-masks free of charge.

Thank you for subscribing to Warwickshire Still Means Business. Please do recommend us to anyone you know that isn't yet on our subscriber-list. We look forward to bringing you the next edition later this month.