Minutes:
The Director of Transportation and Highways reported that the City Council has recently been awarded £334,307 from the High Street Safety Fund by the Department of Communities and Local Government. The Fund provides funding to support the business communities with measures that enable safe trading in public places, particularly focuses on high streets, as well as other public places that are at the heart of towns and cities gearing up to reopen as safe, welcoming spaces following the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fund is focused on three main areas of activity:
– Developing an Action Plan on how to re-open the local economy within High Street environments
– Temporary public realm changes (these would need to be in place for a maximum of 12 months)
– Communications and public information campaigns
Proposals for the Fund include:-
· The reallocation of road space to allow social distancing to take. Locations currently identified for measures, include:
– High Street (Installed)
– Trinity Lane/ The Burges
– Ball Hill
– Foleshill Road
· Installation of signs to reinforce the 2 metre social distancing message at busy location
· Reallocation of road/ open space to allow businesses to expand outdoor seating area. Work is being undertaken with the BID on a number of proposals, including:
o Broadgate, Belgrade Plaza, Hay Lane, Millennium Square, Spon Street.
· Undertake street dressing to improve their attractiveness (including lighting, flags ect.) Work is being undertaken with the BID on a number of proposals, including:
· Hertford Street and Spon Street
All the proposals taken forward will need to meet the requirements of “The Safer Public Places for Urban Centres and Green Spaces” guidance. The proposals will backed up by a clear communication message that the City is opening up for business, but will look and operate differently due to the need to continue to observe the 2m social distancing requirement.
The proposals will also include:-
• “A Reason to visit” Proposals for temporary installations and activities to encourage public to return to the city, spend money and enjoy the city will be included to create areason to visit c.180k
• A Task Force to lead a cross Service agenda for remobilisation, recovery and social recovery.
• A “Confidence Coventry” accreditation scheme which will build on the current advice for re-opening business and be followed by an inspection/evidence gathering process creating public confidence and creation of temporary city safe space for social contact creating a “city outdoors”offer c. £85k
In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor R Brown, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee attended the meeting for this item and agreed the need for urgency so that call-in arrangements would not apply. The reasons for urgency, which the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration had also agreed to enable the item to be considered at this meeting as an item of urgent public business, were that work needed to be undertaken to develop and implement measures under the Fund at the earliest opportunity, particularly in light of shops potentially opening on 15 June in line with Government guidelines.
RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration accepts the award to the City Council of £334k from the High Street Safety Fund by the Department of Communities and Local Government and delegates authority to the Director of Transportation and Highways, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for City Services, to develop and implement measures under the Fund.