Council reveals 10 point plan to help Burnley recover from pandemic

Council leader Coun. Charlie Briggs welcomed the plan and said: “This gives us a firm basis for taking Burnley forward as we come out of the COVID pandemic. We have tasked officers to develop a detailed action plan that builds on our overall vision. This will be brought back to the Executive and the full council for discussion and agreement."

The 10 point plan covers:

Keep Burnley Safe - Work with businesses, local people and police to make sure people see, hear and apply rules to keep us safe.

Help Burnley back to work - Council will engage with manufacturing businesses and industry bodies about the implications of the pandemic and Brexit including the effects on demand for their products; supply-chains, delays and costs; tariffs; changing transaction costs; employment and labour market changes; and their responses.

Support and safeguard high-risk populations, including elderly people, BAME people and care home residents. Council will respond to the extra challenges faced by women and young people, including their mental health.

We will safeguard and support the Council’s employees; promoting public awareness of their role and commitment during the pandemic.

Bring together a Burnley Summit with employers, educational bodies, and representatives of central government bodies to plan for longer-term structural change in the Burnley economy and to develop strategies for business and jobs, including greening the local economy, tackling climate change and helping everyone to acquire new skills, particularly younger people so they can face a confident and successful future.

Build on the Burnley Together Hub to meet the challenges faced today by Burnley people including unemployment, debt management, domestic abuse, social isolation, discrimination and depression. We shall bring together agencies to continue to co-ordinate responses, including community groups and the voluntary sector.

Big changes are already taking place in how people shop and where many of them work. The pandemic has accelerated these changes. Council will plan for the future of our town and local centres, working with shop-owners and businesses.

COVID has increased inequality for many groups in the UK including health inequality. Burnley Council will record the effects on residents and do all it can to reduce the impact of rising inequality, including addressing the social determinants of health.

Community groups throughout Burnley have responded to the COVID crisis, supporting vulnerable people and helping us all to cope. Council should celebrate their contribution and work with them to continue to sense of shared responsibility and engagement among local people.

Throughout this process, the council will communicate with residents so they know what’s happening.

Coun. Margaret Lishman, deputy leader of Burnley Council, prepared the plan which was announced today at the borough council‘s Executive Committee meeting.

She said: “A public body has no greater duty than safeguarding the lives and health of local people. Burnley Council will do our best to ensure there isn’t a second COVID wave in Burnley leading to local lockdown which threatens local jobs and investment.

“After that, we will do everything we can to keep good jobs in Burnley and keep the local economy working for all of us.

“Yesterday, we saw the second report in a month putting East Lancashire in the top risk category for jobs as we come out of the COVID crisis. A Brexit deal that’s bad for manufacturing or a no-deal Brexit will make it worse.

“We’ll work with local businesses to get the support they need. We will organize a Burnley Summit meeting to bring together businesses, education bodies and central government representatives to plan for Burnley’s long-term future.

“Three times in the last century, Burnley came through economic crises better than surrounding towns – that’s because our Council, businesses and workers came together to make our case and get the investment we needed.

“We have seen a fantastic community effort during the pandemic, brought together by the Council’s Burnley Together Hub. It involved community groups, ordinary people and voluntary organisations working together to give help where it was most needed. We want to make sure we don’t lose that community spirit."