To receive an update on the Amesbury and Salisbury recovery following the recent major incident.
Minutes:
Cllr Pauline Church, Cabinet member for Economic Development and Salisbury Recovery gave an update on the continuing recovery in South Wiltshire following the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury.
The incidents moved from response to recovery earlier this month. The South Wiltshire Recovery Coordinating Group, chaired by Alistair Cunningham, was responsible for ensuring that the sites potentially affected were thoroughly cleaned by specialist teams and returned to normal use as soon as possible. The group was also focused on supporting local businesses and the economy as well as the local communities of Amesbury and Salisbury.
Sunday night’s incident in Prezzo in Salisbury and the ensuing media coverage may have dented public confidence, but be reassured that the city and Amesbury were safe to visit and were both very much open for business.
Significant progress was being made on returning South Wiltshire to normal as quickly as possible.
Final stages of clean-up at the sites potentially affected, was underway. The initial work at the Skripal house in Christie Miller Road in Salisbury had been undertaken and the next phase of the clean-up of this property was being planned.
There was positive news for Amesbury where clean-up work started last weekend at Boots pharmacy in Stonehenge Walk and Amesbury Baptist Church. This was good news for businesses and the communities in both Salisbury and Amesbury and would go a long way to helping the return to normal life.
Supporting businesses and the economy in South Wiltshire was a top priority.
Businesses in Wilton had been contacted to determine if, and how, the recent incidents affected them. The feedback showed a mixed picture - some reported an increase in trade through displacement from Salisbury and Amesbury and others had stated a direct impact in a decrease in footfall and visitors.
· 19 businesses in Wilton were contacted – 7 said they had experienced no loss or impact on their trade.
· Four businesses reported a drop-in footfall
· Three reported trade was down on last year
· The Burnbrake Trust was reporting a 30% - 40% drop in footfall which they said was impacting on their turnover
· Annie’s Out Of House reported that sales were down
Our focus is to support businesses and the local economy. We know people were beginning to return to the area when the second incident happened. After that incident in Amesbury footfall dropped.
· At the beginning of August footfall in Salisbury was down 16% compared with 2017.
· Prior to the second incident footfall in Salisbury had recovered to 4.2% below 2017.
· A long-term recovery programme for South Wiltshire had been agreed with central government that sets out a portfolio of interrelated projects to stimulate and support recovery and economic growth with a commitment from central government to provide support (direct and indirect).
· Both Salisbury and Amesbury had been supported with free car parking in all council run car parks and the five park and ride sites. This cost had been met by the council with recent financial support from central government.
· A comprehensive programme of events was being rolled out across Salisbury and Amesbury, to encourage shoppers and visitors to return. This included food markets, literacy festival, The Christmas Market and the OVO cycle tour race
· A major boost had been the awarding of the 2019 National Armed Forces Day to Wiltshire which will be held in Salisbury 28 - 30 June next year and was likely to attract around 250,000 visitors
· Collaborative working with VisitEngland and GREAT we will deliver a number of events and campaigns to promote tourism and encourage visitors.
· More than £6m has been provided by the government in financial support.
· £327k of government and council funding had been granted to 60 businesses to date (August 2018).
· £92k of capital grant had been provided by the SWLEP (Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership) to 29 businesses.
· £208k has been provided in business rate relief to a total of 50 businesses.
An account manager had been assigned to every business that has been contacted in Wilton.
If your small business in Wilton is encountering problems and you think you might need help, contact 01225 402096, email support@swgrowthhub.co.uk, or visit the team at the Old Fire Station Enterprise Centre in Salisbury.
Questions and comments:
· Was there an update on the couple that were taken ill? Answer: We know it is not nerve agent related.
· I have been approached by someone about footfall in Wilton. It was down in March in the Wilton shopping village, after the July incident, there were two down days, and a French tourist company did want to cancel but were persuaded to come. 5 years ago, when we did benchmarking there were no empty shops, but now we do, trade has been down over last 5 years, need to put the whole thing into perspective.
· The Chairman added that there was comfort that we were in easy reach of Porton, it had been quick to identify this latest incident was not nerve agent related.
· The press had made a big thing of the latest incident, with a Russian connection to the lady involved.