Council working to support safe opening of ‘high streets’
Making our high streets and commercial areas safe for shoppers when more shops re-open on Monday 15 June is a top priority for Eastleigh Borough Council.
The Council is now working with other local councils and business organisations like the Eastleigh Business Improvement District to use new government funding of £118,000 to put in place additional measures to establish a safe trading environment for businesses and customers in high streets and other retail areas.
The extra cash will enable the Council to support its business communities with measures that enable safe trading in public places. It will particularly focus on high streets as they gear up to reopen as safe, welcoming spaces. The funding will support these main areas of activity:
- provide clear public information and signage for local residents and visitors
- to communicate with local businesses to ensure that reopening of local economies can be managed successfully and safely e.g. how to make temporary adjustments to their business premises and good practice for social distancing
- to make temporary changes to public places to ensure that reopening of local economies can be managed successfully and safely
Council Leader Keith House said, “It’s vitally important that we get our high streets trading again as part of the economic recovery of our borough. However, we must ensure that these public places are as safe as possible and some temporary changes may need to be made. We are currently looking at temporary road closures in some areas to help increase the level of safety, improve their attractiveness, help improve consumer confidence and safely increase the number visitors to these areas.”