District Matters

The Leader takes a look at the economic impact of COVID-19 on the District

October 2020

(Additional post from the Leader not published in the Stratford Herald)

During the Covid crisis it is clear that Government has been striving to strike a balance between restricting the spread of the virus and keeping the economy going – and balance is a key word when it comes to local matters.

Mind you, it is a slightly different balance. We have to remain optimistic that we will get through this, that we have a strong and resilient area and there are many good things happening in all areas of our community.

However, there is no shying away from the fact that the pandemic has had a seismic impact on our economy, and our district has been hit harder than most areas. This will only be exacerbated by the second lockdown.

The number of people in the district who are claiming benefit has tripled since the outbreak, and – while there is a lag in the data – we think we are about to hit a surge in unemployment with the end of furlough.

And when you consider that a couple of months ago if you added together people on self-employed support scheme and those on furlough it equated to 43 per cent of our working population, which is a huge number.

As everyone knows we had an extremely low level of benefit claimants pre-Covid, and finding people for available posts was the issue. How things can change.

We are believed to be the fourth worst impacted district in the country and that is down to the combination of being a major tourism and hospitality region – Stratford alone attracts around three million visitors a year – and the manufacturing we have on our patch.

We are concentrating on trying to position the economy for the future and ensuring we keep things on track which will benefit the area in medium term, as well as dealing with the day-to-day.

We have had, for example, a £1.5 million grant from the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP for the River Corridor Project. We have put £600,000 of section 106 money into that as well and it is now hitting the design stage. That will enhance the attractiveness of the town for visitors.

We are fortunate in having the Wellesbourne Campus of the University of Warwick which is being developed and has just attracted Lotus to the area, while the Quinton Rail Technology Centre is under new ownership and undertaking some very exciting work.

Like everyone, the council has taken a massive hit on income. We estimate that we will be 25 per cent down on income and it will be one hell of a challenge to balance the books.

It is a question of coping as best we can and I think next year will be a struggle, and I don't see a real recovery until 2022 continuing into 2023.

Across the board I think people have really pulled out all the stops. Businesses have had to be flexible, staff have gone the extra mile, and customers have been understanding.

And I would urge everyone to continue their fantastic support of local businesses – it's been tremendous so far and it will prove invaluable if it continues.

As a council we swung into action very quickly indeed to ensure that grants were issued as quickly as possible to those who qualified – and the teams inside the council have been magnificent in ensuring the money reached people, and, having dealt with the early crisis, we are doing everything we can to put the district on the best footing going forward.

That early work was recognised by a string of messages from businesses who, quite frankly, might not have made it through the lockdown without the support.

Being a part of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP is brilliant for us and it has more than proved its worth over these last eight months. The ability to talk to other authorities and the private sector and to ensure we have a coherent and joined up approach to recovery will prove to be invaluable.

Its Growth Hub, in particular, has been superb in terms of what it can offer and also the intelligence it has provided.

I think everyone recognises we are in this for the long haul and that there will be more bumps in the road, but I am confident that with the assets we have, the actions we have taken and the collective spirit that our residents and business have shown, that we will emerge in as strong a state as possible.