Major report sets out Burnley Council Covid economic recovery response

Burnley councillors have agreed a report setting out how the borough’s economy will recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The council’s Executive discussed the report which looks at the impact of the pandemic on people, businesses and Burnley and Padiham town centres and what Burnley Council and its partners need to do over the next five years to recover from this major economic shock.

As well as measures to support businesses and people through the immediate pandemic the plan sets out wide ranging actions to ensure that the economy is able to respond to new opportunities in green growth, clean energy and medical technology. Innovation and skills are at the heart of the strategy.

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Both schemes will support local businesses and help aid the borough's economic recovery and future developments.

The Covid-19 recovery report was discussed at Burnley Council's Executive meetingThe Covid-19 recovery report was discussed at Burnley Council's Executive meeting
The Covid-19 recovery report was discussed at Burnley Council's Executive meeting

Council leader Mark Townsend said: “These reports are about looking ahead and planning our way out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"While we continue to tackle this crisis and protect our residents, we also have to plan ahead to a brighter future.

“Over the past years we’ve managed to buck the national trend in many respects when it comes to our local economy and we’ve seen significant employment growth and investment. We can’t afford to see all that hard work reversed by coronavirus.

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“There’s been some great work with communities, through the Burnley Together community hub, and with businesses through the Bondholders and other schemes.

“We need to continue to work with partners to respond to this crisis, deal with the immediate threat but also put in place the building blocks so that we can come out of all this a strong, healthy and vibrant borough.

“We must respond effectively and efficiently, providing our business and our residents with the right support and interventions necessary to enable them to continue to live and work in these unprecedented times.”

The reports cover two main areas – economic recovery and growth, and community recovery.

Among the main recommendations were:

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- Establishing an economic recovery board involving public and private sector partners to work collaboratively towards economic recovery

- An extra £350,000 for the business growth fund

- The use of £25,000 from the council’s climate change initiative budget to help businesses adopt new “green” technologies and to diversify into low carbon supply chains