Lewes District's Post-Covid Financial Recovery Plan Progresses

Monday, 16 November 2020 10:31

By John Warburton @Warblefly

Lewes Castle, in the heart of Lewes District Council's area (Photo: © John Warburton)

The creation of new local jobs, and the foundation of new locally-owned enterprises are two priorities that Lewes District Council is putting at the top of its post-Covid financial recovery plans.

That's according to the local authority, which claims it's now undertaking what it calls a "wide-reaching" programme with the hope of encouraging community wealth building.

Cabinet councillors on Thursday (November 12) heard about progress with the council's recovery and reset programme in four areas:

best use of digital,
reshaping delivery,
best use of assets, and
restart.

They said the programme is a key element in tackling the council's budget shortfall of around £12m over the next four years.

Councillor James MacCleary, Leader of Lewes District Council, explained:

"Ensuring that we use council resources to support our local economy and community has been central to recovery and reset plans and now, in the midst of a second lockdown, this has never been so important.

"The programme will also deliver significant changes in the way we operate so that we build in long-term resilience while continuing to deliver on our priorities for excellent services, climate action, housing and community wealth."

A newly formed cross-party recovery and reset board — whose composition hasn't been fully announced — is due to meet soon.

Councillor Zoe Nicholson, Deputy Leader of Lewes District Council, added:

"For some months we have been focusing on helping the district recover and working with our partners to ensure the welfare of local people experiencing hardship due to Covid19.

"We are committed to ensuring that we focus on how we use all our resources to benefit our communities and have commissioned the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to undertake a study and make recommendations to us.

"These will be progressed through the recovery and reset programme."

Councillor Chris Collier, Cabinet member for Performance and People, said:

"We must enact significant organisational changes in response to the challenges we face now and in the future.

"I am confident the recovery and reset programme provides us with a structured and accountable approach for delivering these changes while keeping focused on giving support to local people who need it and growing our local economy in a sustainable way."