2020
Council announces bounce back plans for businesses
Date Posted: 7:51 AM on Thu, 28 May 2020
Gedling Borough Council is beginning work on an economic bounce-back plan to support local businesses and the wider economy.
The council is creating two new roles to support local small businesses and retailers with general business advice and guidance, and to enable them to reopen in a way that is safe for them and for the public.
Two temporary advisor roles, one for small businesses and one for retail businesses, will be created to offer direct guidance and advice for businesses about what help they can access to assist their business as well as in response to the coronavirus. They will be able to provide important information about the government’s recovery strategy as well as signposting business owners to the different funding opportunities and organisations available to help them.
The new roles are part of the council’s larger economic development strategy to help businesses bounce back, whilst also focusing on promoting the local economy to residents. As well as providing tailored advice to help local businesses reopen, the council’s Economic Development Team are also working on ways that residents can ‘rediscover’ their local shops and high streets.
As part of the plan, Gedling Borough Council will continue work on revitalising the borough’s town centres, in both Arnold and other communities, which will support the local economy. They are looking at ways to improve the infrastructure in the borough for example, improving Wi-Fi, creating more electric car points and improving the Arnold Market Place, which will undergo a multi-million pound transformation.
The government’s guidance on how retailers can get ‘covid secure’ has now been published and the council will be aiming to provide support on the logistics of the requirements for shops, retailers and market stall holders so they can open with the confidence that they are providing a safe place for people to visit.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke said:
“We want to make sure we do everything we can to help our local businesses bounce back and the creation of these two new roles will ensure that we can have direct communications with our businesses so they are prepared for this new way of working.
We also want to remind residents of the diverse shops and amenities that are on their local doorstep. We want our residents to rediscover their local shops, market stalls, grocery stores and independent traders and to use them, knowing they are safe to do so.
Before this terrible virus stopped us all in our tracks, Gedling Borough Council was already looking at investing in our local town centres and we will continue with those projects, which are now more important than ever. We will continue to work on improving Arnold and Carlton Town Centres and we will look at other high streets and villages to see what we can do to help them bounce back. We are taking very small steps forward, whilst appreciating the enormous job on our hands, to get our local economy back on track.”
For more information about the support available for businesses including help with financial grants, guidance for being covid secure and additional support for retailers visit www.gedling.gov.uk/coronavirus