Case studies

As in many areas of the country, in summer 2020 East Suffolk Council faced the challenge of helping its town centres trade successfully and safely. This case study summarises the approach adopted through a combination of delivering targeted, practical improvements and continuing to boost the capacity of local town partnerships to deliver long-term town centre revitalisation. 

To support businesses and protect jobs in the face of restrictions and some customer concerns, post-COVID 19 lockdown, Oxford City Council worked with Oxfordshire County Council as the highways authority, and with its hospitality sector to create an on-street outside tables & chairs offer. This successful approach, which has helped safeguard jobs and maintain the vitality of the city centre, has now been extended into the autumn and winter.

Like many local authorities across the country, one of the challenges facing Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council as part of its COVID-19 recovery planning, was adapting and advancing its existing commitment to developing its towns and local centres.

When Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council invested in comprehensive footfall and foot-flow monitoring as a measure of town centre vitality and viability, it was not aware of its usefulness in managing the local response to a global pandemic.

Surrey Heath has consolidated a mix of old on-premise and other cloud GIS services into a single XMAP Cloud GIS system. The service provides mapping and GIS services for staff, public and contractors. It supports our accelerated agile working agenda whilst also saving the Council licensing costs and implementation costs.

The successful post-COVID 19 reopening of town and city centres requires the creative reimagining and promotion of safe and welcoming public spaces. Royal Leamington Spa is an example of a town taking such an approach, through a creative collaboration between Warwickshire County Council, Warwick District Council, Royal Leamington Spa Town Council and BID Leamington

In summer 2020, Selby District Council faced the challenge of combining the immediate requirements for reopening Selby town centre as part of COVID 19 recovery planning, with delivering existing long-term priorities for revitalisation.

Consumer habits and retail trends are changing at an unprecedented rate, which poses a lot of challenges for town centres and high streets across the country. Despite these challenges councils across the country are eager to regenerate them and make them thriving community and economic hubs.

Councils are leading the revival of our high streets and town centres. As leaders of place, they are offering a new wave of thinking around what the high street can offer to communities and delivering real local change.

Allerdale Borough Council is a small borough council with big ambitions. What we do, we do well but we need to do it more effectively and at a lower cost.