Agenda item

The Select Committee will receive a report detailing the activities undertaken by the Council to support local businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, following the release from lockdown and beyond. Members may wish to comment on the effectiveness of different schemes and provide suggestions for future initiatives.

 

Contributors:

Cllr Gareth Williams, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Mr Ian Thompson, Corporate Director – Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Ms Lisa Michelson, Service Director, Economic Growth & Regeneration

Minutes:

Cllr G Williams, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, gave a presentation on work carried out and future plans to support Buckinghamshire’s high streets following the pandemic. Nearly £1m Government funding had been secured as part of the ‘Reopening High Streets
Safely Fund’ and ‘Welcome Back Fund’. The Community Boards had also engaged with Parishes and local organisations during the reopening of high streets. The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) had offered £18m of financial assistance to businesses through a quick, simple, non-bureaucratic process. Buckinghamshire had been the second quickest authority in the country to distribute these funds and feedback had been positive.

 

Buckinghamshire still had money to allocate as part of the Welcome Back Fund. All spend and delivery required completion by 31 March 2022. There were currently 44 events under consideration for funding with most originating from Community Boards. As the funding was European, there were strict criteria and procurement rules to follow. There were six themes to the fund:-

 

1.      Support and develop an action plan for how the local authority will safely reopen local economies;

2.      Communications and public information;

3.      Business-facing awareness;

4.      Temporary public realm changes;

5.      Promote a safe public environment for the local area economy;

6.      Support local authorities to develop plans for responding to medium term impact of Covid-19 including trialling new ideas relating to the high street.

 

Forthcoming activities were also highlighted which included:-

 

·         Place promotion

·         Online retail innovation pilot

·         Business survey

·         Seasonal events and activities

·         Christmas campaign

·         Beautification of the high street

 

In response to questions the following points were raised:-

 

·         Members commended the speed of the ARG distribution and the community activities that were being organised as part of the return to high streets.

·         It was preferable for the funding to be spent towards activities that offered a longer term impact, for instance through purchasing light machines, which would assist with the council’s regeneration agenda.

·         The Council had streamlined the pavement license process so that businesses could operate in an alfresco or café style. Due to the scheme’s popularity with businesses and residents, it had been extended until September 2022. The number of these licenses granted would be investigated and fed back to the Committee.

ACTION: L Michelson

·         The funding had been used to purchase footfall monitoring equipment which would provide key baseline data on the high streets.  It would be investigated whether the maximum value had been purchased and where the equipment would be set up.

ACTION: L Michelson

·         A Member requested that the comparative data for the national distribution of the ARG be shared with the Committee.

ACTION: L Michelson

·         As the high streets fund was prescribed, each Community Board had working groups and funding towards long-term economic recovery projects.

·         The ‘Being Considerate’ campaign aimed to address mental health concerns following reopening high streets. The Committee would be advised of this cost separately.

ACTION: L Michelson

·         Plans for business rates would be reported in future as part of the budget process.

·         The reopening project was being carried out by officers in the Economic, Growth and Recovery team. Elements of the project, such as communications, had adapted based on feedback and lessons learnt.

·         The markets and market traders were important during the lockdowns as they offered shopping in an outside space. Short term street closure events to promote footfall in town and village centres may be considered in future.

·         The Government had supported local schemes of free parking. Now this funding had ceased, the council’s budgetary constraints meant that free parking would be difficult to offer in future. The high streets fund could not be used to subsidise parking due to prescriptive criteria exempting council expenditure.

 

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and the officers for the speed of distributing the funds and work carried out to reopen high streets.

Supporting documents: