Case studies

Our 'Supporting councils with business engagement' report captured learning from councils' contact with businesses over the course of the pandemic and their plans going forward. One example was Maldon District Council, who brought together local businesses to identify where support was needed and establish networks.

Leeds has a clear ambition to be a hundred per cent digital, where everyone in the city has the opportunity to get online and to develop digital skills and confidence. To measure progress against this ambition, one of the council’s “20 for 2020 Key Indicators” is the percentage of adults in Leeds who have all five basic digital skills. 

A partnership of councils are jointly funding a responsive, independent, not-for-profit consultancy, Smarter Digital Services, to help them to achieve their digital ambitions.

Nottingham City Council have undertaken a survey of the vacancies in the city centre to support its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop a long-term vision to diversify its offer to attract more people to live, work and visit the city. The report has highlighted new options that can fill these vacancies to reflect a more diverse city centre. These include creating a night-time economy, as well as new leisure activities whilst increasing the public realm space in the city centre and aligning it to its new vision for its Broadmarsh centre.

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.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is tackling the economic impacts of COVID-19 through a new Economic Renewal Action Plan, including a £2 million Prioritised Recovery Programme (PRP) of immediately deliverable action. The approach combines an evidence-based, strategy-led plan with practical action to tackle critical issues and gaps in support to accelerate recovery.

The government-backed business support programmes can be of real value to participants. However, the local business community is not always aware of it and gets the most from, the support that is available to them. Bolsover District Council Local businesses were surveyed to better understand the failings of taking up the support available.

Bradford Council commissioned a piece of research on entrepreneurial support for young people in Bradford district, with the aim of understanding what appetite there is amongst them to start their own business or to become self-employed and how support might be best delivered to ensure there is an inclusive, accessible offer for them.

Breckland Council has launched a year long project, Future Breckland: Thriving People and Places. This project is a significant undertaking which is designed to help Breckland bounce back from the challenges of COVID-19.

Broxtowe Borough Council are supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the borough by developing new commercial units to boost inward investment and create new jobs. The council was successful in bidding for funding from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to develop these units in response to audits that were carried out by the council to understand the needs of SMEs in the borough.