Buy local bid to beat recession

Dec 10 2009 by Laurie Stocks-Moore, Chester Chronicle

COUNCIL bosses have hatched a plan to bring the region out of the recession fighting.

Cheshire West and Chester Council will help businesses bounce back from the ravages of recession by urging consumers to buy local.

They hope to stimulate the local economy with a series of drives which will include the issuing of grants to aid those wanting to bolster their business and employ more staff as the green shoots of recovery appear.

Posters urging ‘Support your local business’ carrying the logo ‘Bouncing Back to beat the recession’ will appear in the windows of stores in the city and similar signs will pop up in pubs, restaurants and other attractions.

The Bouncing Back scheme was launched on Monday, just in time for the Christmas and sales buying frenzy.

Businesses can download and display a poster from the council's campaign website, www.bouncingback.org.uk, and have their web address added to a directory of local businesses.

The campaign has sprouted from the council's Recession Recovery Committee, formerly the Credit Crunch Committee.

Cllr Stuart Parker, the committee's chairman said: “It's accumulated from a starting point two years ago when the recession started to hit in Chester.

“We needed to do something as a response to help the businesses so we put in place the credit crunch committee.

“We engaged with the Citizens Advice Bureau, Job Centre Plus, city centre management, the primary care trust and others. They are the experts and they were there to assist.

“For the first time we got major partners together for a common goal.”

The city council morphed into Cheshire West and Chester Council but Cllr Parker wanted to continue the credit crunch committee's efforts and expand it to include the former Vale Royal and Ellesmere Port council areas.

He added: “The name credit crunch started to be a little old hat. We started to see the signs of recovery.

“That's why we came up with the bouncing back campaign to beat the recession.”

Cllr Parker's, whose constituency is rural Gowy, has seen the effects of recession first hand.

“I know a lot of my constituents worked for financial institutions,” he added.

“Not once did someone say 'councillor, I have problems'. People suffer in silence.

“I knew from being governor of the schools that some of the children of the parents were suffering. There would be arguments about money at home.

“We realised we had to get out to them.”

There will be a detailed recovery plan taking in grants, benefits and training.

Highlights include: The Future Jobs Fund project which will help young people aged 18-24 access six months of employment, gaining experience, skills and training to increase their employability.

It will secure 250 jobs across Cheshire West with both the public and private sector offering placements.

Two grant-giving schemes will be available: £500 for Business Start-Ups and £2,000 for expanding businesses within the CWaC area.

And a Rural Regeneration Grant will issue grants of between £5,000-£20,000 to businesses in rural areas which must be match funded and has a total pot of £200,000.

Cllr Parker added: “The recession is far from finishing. We're going to be in trouble for the next two years at least.

Cllr Parker said the campaign has begun now because the council wanted to wait for the right time.

“We were doing things but we didn't want it to be disjointed. The new authority has been in for eight months and we want it to be Cheshire wide and not just Chester.

“It gives us the opportunity to bring this together on a bigger platform.

“We were still doing things, getting ourselves to this position.”

“Shopping locally will help boost the economy throughout the borough because it will help protect local jobs. Supporting independent traders is particularly helpful as profits from these sorts of businesses are more likely to be re- invested locally.”