'Love Thurso' message as group gets Covid-19 recovery funding
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Thurso is to benefit from a share of £1 million in grant aid to help Scotland's towns recover from the coronavirus crisis.
An award of £10,000 was made to Thurso Community Development Trust (TCDT) from the Towns and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Resilience and Recovery Fund, financed by the Scottish Government and administered by Scotland’s Towns Partnership.
It will enable TCDT to brighten up the town centre in an initiative aimed at promoting social distancing but with a local theme with pavement stickers, signage and banners. Alongside this, a marketing campaign will encourage everyone to support local businesses and "love Thurso".
The trust's development manager Joan Lawrie said: “During lockdown so many of our local independent retailers were quick and entrepreneurial in changing their services, going over to deliveries to homes and really supporting the community at a time we needed it most.
"These local businesses have also been one of the hardest-hit sectors due to Covid-19 and the lockdown so we are really delighted to be able to offer activity to support them with this funding as we move into the autumn months.”
The funding package will enable the trust to install social distancing markers in the town centre outside shops, run a marketing campaign to promote local businesses, including the creation of short films and competitions, and produce a business directory to be distributed to all the homes in Thurso and surrounding area.
Laura Freeman, owner of the Eye Candy gift shop in Thurso town centre, said: “I’m really happy about the work being done by Thurso Community Development Trust to support us as retailers.
"During the lockdown I was able to change my business to include deliveries to homes. Now that we can open again, albeit with a reduced number of customers in the shop at any one time, having this promotional activity and encouraging people to shop locally will hopefully give a real boost to trade as we head towards the winter months.”
Joan added: “We have now been in touch with, we think, all of the retail and eatery businesses in Thurso to start bringing together all of your information to promote them. But if you feel we have missed you, please get in touch with me directly to joan@thursocdt.co.uk.
"We are really excited to get started on this over the next month and see this project as a real catalyst to further work with our local businesses by the trust.”
Smaller awards have gone to three groups in Sutherland, in the Dornoch, Durness and Assynt areas.
Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership, said: “Businesses in our town centres are showing remarkable resilience and innovation in how they are responding to the consequences of Covid-19 to best serve their customers and communities.
“From rapidly accelerating their online offerings to moving quickly to ensure that safeguards are in place to ensure that staff can work safely and customers shop responsibly, their work is playing an important part in the nation’s recovery from the pandemic. The impact they are having should not be underestimated.
“We are delighted to have been able to support communities across the Highlands. We encourage everyone to think local first – and safety first – to support the businesses and the people behind them who really are at the heart of the areas in which they live.
"Whether it be buying your groceries or enjoying a meal out, the support you give is critical as we work hard to secure a sustainable and successful future for Scotland’s town centres.”
Nationally, 73 projects are being supported – 24 in full and 49 in part. Money has been granted to organisations including local authorities and community business groups.
Scotland’s communities secretary Aileen Campbell said: “Living more of our lives locally – shopping, eating and enjoying activities in the areas we live – has never been more important. It has a huge role to play in supporting Scotland’s economic and social recovery from Covid-19.
"This fund is enabling great work to support and promote local businesses in more than 180 towns by highlighting the diverse and vibrant selection of products and services on offer.
“Taking simple steps like choosing to visit a nearby shop or café, or buying goods or services from a business in your own community, helps support local jobs. These actions help local economies to thrive, bring communities together and, crucially, help us to continue to suppress the virus by limiting unnecessary travel.”
The Towns and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Resilience and Recovery Fund totals £2 million. While half of this has been used towards the current wave of grants, £700,000 will provide support to business improvement districts when current BIDs resilience funding expires.
