SINCE the start of the pandemic last year, Winchester City Council has prioritised the economic recovery of the district.

As lockdowns and national restrictions impacted, the council diverted resources to ensure that businesses could access vital funds as quickly as possible.

To date £34.6 million in business grants and £27.8 million in Business Rates Relief has been distributed to local businesses.

Specific sectors needed help in understanding what each set of new guidance meant for them, and the council created information packs and bulletins which clarified legislation, signposted the latest information and even provided handy resources to print off and display.

The net results has been to strengthen the channels of communication between district businesses and their council – subscriptions to the council’s free bulletins have increased by over 40% since the virus hit the district’s economy.

This support continues to evolve and the council is currently developing a hardship fund and other funded initiatives to support businesses recovery.

A further round of funding has recently been launched to support businesses and organisations within key sectors that have either been mandated to close or whose income has been impacted in excess of 30%.

These organisations will be eligible for a grant between £1,333 and £3,000.

For some time, the discussions at Cabinet and with partnership organisations have been centered around supporting the district and its local economy to ‘build back better’.

By tapping into the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund (RHSS), the council has been able to launch a dedicated specialist business support service for high street businesses across the district’s centres that have been significantly impacted by Covid-19.

Digital Islands will be working with business owners and premises managers providing them access to a range of bespoke interventions including an on-line information sharing portal, 1:1 advice, live on-line drop in sessions, peer group interactions, weekly specialist business development sessions and webinars.

Recognising that independent retailers have been particularly hard hit, plans are starting to take shape with a view to developing an additional, powerful e-commerce platform - a new virtual high street.

Consumers will be able to purchase items remotely from a range of independent retailers from across the district and take delivery of these via a single co-ordinated service.

The plan is that the council will fund the development, launch, marketing and the first six months of operating costs for independent high street businesses to benefit from this additional powerful route to market.

Covid-19 has also seen the council transform its communication to residents in the district – the Your Council newsletter is emailed fortnightly to over 15,000 local people, and the biannual ‘About Winchester’ newsletter has also moved online.

Readers of both these virtual publications, and the 20,000 city council social media followers, are encouraged to ‘support local’ to help the local economy recover.

The Visit Winchester channels have also leapt into action – supporting tourism businesses who had devised virtual experiences and reminding local people that, when the time came, the district’s visitor offer was ready to welcome them back with open arms.

Cllr Paula Ferguson, Cabinet member for local economy, said: “The council is well placed to support businesses – we’re often the first to hear about national developments and have longstanding relationships with both individual businesses and organisations like Winchester BID, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and other local networks.

“We’ve had so much positive feedback from the 1000s of businesses who we’ve been in contact with – whether they are receiving one-to-one support or are because the latest business bulletin gives them all the information need in one place.

“Communicating with our residents and locals about where they can still shop and what is still open via our ‘support local, shop online’ campaign has been key to supporting businesses, especially during the lockdown or the varying levels of restrictions.

“And when we the restrictions have been lifted, we’ve delivered carefully timed and targeted marketing campaigns to ensure that people don’t forget our attractions – encouraging them to ‘rediscover what’s on their doorstep’, and sample local wares by shopping local via Click & Collect or home deliveries.

Our pro-active engagement with market towns in sourcing content has been particularly effective in raising their profile within our activities and attracting new audiences.”

This has helped, in the city for example, in retaining 21% more footfall than many similar destinations, according to the national barometer, ‘Springboard’.

It’s also clear that local businesses have shown great innovation as they have adapted their virtual offering – from online sourdough making classes to craft courses – which has meant we’ve been able to highlight some really exciting things that people can still do. All this serves to build the district’s brand across multiple markets and it contributes to rebuilding a vibrant economy when the situation allows.”

For more information visit: winchester.gov.uk/supporting-our-community-covid-19