Broadland: Getting the economy moving again

While central government now starts to ease the lockdown restrictions, the council is determined to help sustain local jobs and support businesses to recover quickly. That way it can help drive the local economy and in turn, help communities, ensuring they can prosper into the future.

Broadland District Council has mobilised a ‘whole council effort’ to ensure that businesses are helped, not hindered through the recovery and back to prosperity.

Working closely with town councils, traders and business groups, the council has put in place a range of measures to ensure commercial centres continue to be vibrant and safe places to shop.

As part of its Confidence campaign the council is supplying freestanding hand sanitiser stations, street banners to raise awareness and encourage people to ‘Shop with Confidence’, floor stickers and lamp post signage to encourage social distancing for retail business areas.

With the opening of the hospitality sector the council is also helping to ensure that businesses that want to trade outside their premises are properly licenced. To help this happen as soon as possible the normal consultation time for a licence application has had to be reduced.

This shortened process means that businesses can benefit from the extra space as soon as possible but the council also realises that having tables and chairs on the pavement can cause some residents, especially the visually impaired, difficulties.

The council is asking any resident who has experienced difficulties, caused by the new changes to call 01603 431133 so that the council can help find a solution.

The “Shop with Confidence” initiative is the first visible part of Broadland District Council’s much wider “Do Business with Confidence” campaign to support every business and every job possible during the recovery phase.

The council’s aim is to encourage footfall to return to pre-COVID-19 levels as quickly as possible and get cash into traders’ tills and back into the local economy.