Council considers future of Stafford borough’s businesses after pandemic
Stafford Borough Council has been given more time to bid for £25 million Government funding to boost Stafford town centre – and consider the borough’s economic future after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The council was due to submit its business case for a share of the Future High Streets Fund by April 30.
But this month’s cabinet meeting heard the deadline had been extended – and the authority had been spending time considering how the current coronavirus pandemic will affect the borough’s businesses after lockdown restrictions are eased.
On Monday, the Government published its roadmap to lifting the restrictions which have seen hospitality businesses such as pubs and restaurants forced to close to customers since late March – except for delivery and takeaway services. Shops selling all but essential goods, such as food and medicine, have also closed their doors for the time being, leaving normally busy areas such as Stafford and Stone’s town centres far quieter than usual.
Non-essential retail businesses could start reopening in phases from June however – with hospitality and personal care services following suit from July, if it is considered safe to do so.
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More support for smaller businesses has also been made available, a senior member of Stafford Borough Council told a meeting on May 5. And the council’s cabinet heard that around £20 million in business support grants had been paid to 80 per cent of those eligible – placing it in the top third of local authorities in the country for distribution
Councillor Frances Beatty, cabinet member for economic development and planning, said: “Our officers have contacted more than 1,000 local businesses to make sure they know about the grants and support available. I am pleased to confirm the majority of grants have been paid – if there are any businesses who haven’t got through to us or put their applications, in let us know.
“The Government has announced a new fund, available to local authorities to top up the original small business grants for enterprises who have fallen through the gaps, to help small businesses such as market traders, those in shared offices, small charities and bed and breakfast enterprises. The maximum sum will be £25,000 for businesses with under 50 employees, and distribution of this fund will be at the discretion of local authorities.
“The Government is decentralising for once, allowing local authorities to take the lead, based on what we know. I know our staff will deliver this lifeline smoothly to enterprises who have not been eligible and ease some of their extreme worries.
Focusing
“We have been very much up to speed with our (Future High Streets Fund) bid, ready to go, but we have been taking advantage of that extra time to assess the impact of Covid-19 on the future of Stafford’s high street in particular, and on the situation post-Covid-19 on the economic climate of the borough overall.
“We will now be focusing on understanding our immediate – and also our long-term – challenges that are faced by various business sectors in the borough. I commend our staff and everybody else for the tremendous work they have done to make sure our businesses can kick back in when the pandemic is over.”
But Councillor Aidan Godfrey, leader of the Labour group on the authority, highlighted other challenges that businesses in the the top part of the town centre have faced in recent years. Many retailers have moved out of the Gaolgate Street area, such as M&S, which moved to the Riverside shopping centre in the south of the town centre, leaving empty units.
He said: “We do have a problem with the north of the town centre anyway – presumably this situation has not helped because a lot of businesses at the north end tend to be in the entertainment and food and drink industries. These areas are the ones that are going to be affected the most and probably come back the slowest.
“How can we help that part of town to regenerate after this has happened? We were struggling in the first place.
“I hate to be negative about this but we really do need to concentrate on that part of town and do everything we can. It would be extremely disappointing if we didn’t get the grant through, but it would be interesting to hear what you have got in your back pocket in case we don’t get it.”
Councillor Beatty said: “I was hoping we were going to have a very nice summer and a lot of our café, restaurant and pub businesses would be able to have tables outside that would be allowed within the Government’s regulations as we go forward.
“I think the Future High Streets Fund is going to be hugely important to us and it would be a disappointment if we don’t get that funding because the whole of the grant we’ve applied for is based on the regeneration of the north end of town – and that was before coronavirus. It’s going to be even more important now going forward.
“We’re looking at the way High Streets are going to operate in the future, we’re looking at more residential and some of that residential will be over the tops of shops. Some of it will be redevelopment of the site and we have applications in at the moment – I have no reason to think those applications are not going to go ahead, which will be mixed use redevelopment of that north end of town.
“Developers are thinking longer term than the next three months – they are thinking of the next 10 years and I don’t think they will go away. Stafford has got so much to offer – we are in the middle of the country, we’re a prosperous borough and we have a steady range of jobs which I believe will still be there after this coronavirus.”
