Extra Government money is helping Chichester District Council to continue supporting its high streets as part of the recovery from the Covid pandemic.
The council has been awarded a further £173,000 as part of the Government’s Welcome Back Fund. A number of projects have been discussed and approved by the council’s High Street Recovery and Transformation Group, as well as parish and town councils that have high street areas.
The money is being spent on:
- extra toilet cleaning and litter picking in areas experiencing higher footfall;
- more staffing to support the district’s nine mile stretch of coastline;
- hosting and supporting events across the district;
- improving public spaces by introducing additional planting, improving signage and undertaking additional cleaning; and,
- encouraging people to shop and spend with local businesses in the run up to Christmas.
“We are delighted to have received this latest round of funding, which is helping us to put in place further support for our high street areas as we continue to recover from the pandemic,” says Councillor Tony Dignum, the council’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration. “The nature of the funding means that we have to spend it on certain types of activities in specific areas.
“The extra cleaning is helping those areas that have received more visitors than usual this year. The coastline that we manage has come under a lot more pressure this year as people had been enjoying their holidays closer to home, and so being able to pay for extra staff to keep visitors safe and ensure the area is clean and tidy has been extremely beneficial. As more people use our public spaces, it is vital that they remain attractive and comfortable for people and so installing new signage and planting, and improving the public realm is really important.
“We have also relaunched our very successful Christmas campaign, which encourages shoppers across the district to do their bit and spend locally this festive season. Christmas is a very important time for our local businesses, and so our campaign is all about letting people know what their high streets have to offer and what events and activities are going on locally. This money has helped support this campaign with radio and newspaper advertising.”
The council previously received funding from the Government’s Reopening High Streets Safely Fund which enabled local authorities to put in place additional measures to create a safe trading environment for businesses and customers, particularly in high street areas. The district received just over £108,000 as part of this scheme which paid for:
- employing a team of Covid Information Recovery Officers to provide specific Covid information and advice to businesses;
- designing, producing and installing safety signage and messaging to help the public keep to the Government’s Covid safety guidelines;
- promoting safety messages among the community; and,
- suspending parking bays in order to widen pavements to allow for queuing and social distancing.
The council will continue to work with its partners on a variety of projects to support its local businesses.
