The People & Places Partnership has published new guidance for councils, communities and business groups on re-opening town centres as part of the first steps to recovery post-COVID 19.
Managing streets & spaces in 2020
This downloadable checklist for managing streets & public spaces in 2020 (version 3) has been prepared by People & Places to help guide town partnerships and key stakeholders wishing to work together in re-opening town centres. The aim is to help councils, communities and business groups ensure the safe and enjoyable access to local town and city centres. The checklist draws-on the High Street Task Force’s 10-point checklist for COVID-19 recovery stages updated on May 27th and references new government guidance on safer public places updated on June 26th.
Taking the first steps to recovery
The check-list is part of a growing suite of information from People & Places designed to help guide the first steps to recovery and assist in re-opening town centres. Detailed information and insights in to preparing locally-based surveys of changing business practices, customer behaviour and town centre metrics, are provided in the downloadable manual on creating a town centre recovery framework.
Providing practical help and support
People & Places is also offering its national know-how to help towns across the country to take a long-look at the impacts and provide COVID-19 recovery planning support. The support on planning for recovery uses the robust, national methodology set-out in the updated version of the revitalising town centres toolkit
To learn about how a series of Suffolk towns are adapting plans for the revitalisation of their town centres, take a look at the resources involved in creating a forward framework for town centre revitalisation.
Safer High Streets Fund
To learn more about how to make best use of the Government’s announcement of £50 million of funding for reopening high streets, read our news update on the Safer High Streets Fund which can assist with the type of enhancements suggest here. The Reopening High Streets Safely Fund launched on May 24th and is aimed help councils in England introduce a range of safety measures to assist in kick-starting local economies by getting customers back in to town centre businesses. The money is being paid to local authorities to allocate to towns within their area.
Watch this (re-opening) space
Alongside its roadmap for a UK-wide recovery strategy, the Government published guidance in early June on how shops and branches can be reopened and operate safely. These guidelines are kept constantly updated and reviewed. Similar guidance is now available for the following sectors: non-essential retail (including salons); pubs and restaurants; the visitor economy and heritage sites as detailed in managing streets & public spaces in 2020 (version 3).
