District Councillors celebrate local businesses in New Forest
New Forest District Council leader, Cllr Barry Rickman and portfolio holder for economic development, Cllr Michael Harris OBE visited Lymington High Street to show their support for local retailers on Small Business Saturday, 5 December. The annual campaign to support small businesses coincided with many local retail businesses welcoming back customers for the first Saturday in over a month, having been required to close during national restrictions.
Council Leader Barry Rickman said “Our local retail and hospitality businesses have had a really challenging year. It’s therefore vitally important that we come out and safely support these enterprises which support so many local jobs and supply chains. We have always actively supported Small Business Saturday, but this year’s event is more important than ever”.
Saturday also marked the first of five days throughout December when car parking charges in NFDC town and village centres will be suspended. Further free parking days in the council’s town and village car parks will take place on the weekends ahead of Christmas, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December, and Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 December. Free parking is one of several initiatives aimed at supporting the District’s small local businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic.
As restrictions are lifted, the District Council has been working alongside local stakeholders including town and parish councils to implement the ‘Reopening of High Streets Safely’ programme. This supports safer shopping locally with a range of measures including introducing additional signage to promote social distancing, barriers to help safe queues, public realm measures such as planters to help create wider pavements and hand sanitiser stations. Additional resources are also provided on the council’s website to support businesses in reopening safely, including social distancing posters which can be printed out and displayed in premises.
Businesses can find support and advice on opening safely at https://newforest.gov.uk/1436