A message from the leader and chief executive
We’re delighted to provide the welcome to our first edition of Residents’ News.
Our aim is to use it to keep you up to date with the latest goings on at the council and how we’re working hard to build a better borough, especially after the coronavirus lockdown.
We hope you noticed our proactive communications during the period we were told to stay at home. There was a considerable appetite for information about the impact on our services and the help available to the people in our communities who needed it the most.
Most recently, we’ve been supporting businesses to begin to trade once again now that lockdown restrictions have been eased further.
There is much we need to do to help the borough get over the economic shock of the coronavirus and our work will not stop any time soon.
We have distributed more than £59 million worth of grants to businesses.
Our own discretionary financial support programme – totalling £1.9 million - has helped firms that weren’t able to access the government’s national schemes.
These grants have been vital to our local economy, helping ensure the survival of shops, cafes, hotels, restaurants and many other businesses.
And, our £50,000 initiative with the Federation of Small Businesses has meant small and micro businesses have been able to access vital support and information completely free.
Visitors have started to return to the borough and the rising popularity of ‘staycations’ has the potential to benefit us further.
We are hoping the 2020 holiday season can be extended later into the year, so we can make up for the devastating impact the coronavirus has had so far.
Finally, you may have seen media coverage about the reorganisation of local government in York and North Yorkshire which will affect things in our borough. There’s an article to explain what’s happening below and we encourage you to read it.
However, we want to offer you some reassurance.
While it’s true that this council won’t exist from as early as April 2022, the local services you value, appreciate and rely on won’t be affected.
Bins will still need to be emptied, businesses will still need to be supported and developers will want to build houses, so we won’t be hanging up our hats anytime soon.
Please stay safe.
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