Welcome to the Harborough Business Update. During the COVID-19 disruption, we aim to provide weekly updates as things develop quickly. Find more information on COVID-19 support, visit the Invest in Harborough Website here.
Town Centre Reopening - 15th June
With the town centres beginning to reopen on 15th June. Harborough District Council has put together some helpful information, that reflects Government guidance, in order to keep Harborough Businesses informed as things develop over the next few weeks and months.
Find out more about our High Street Helpers, on hand to assist members of the public as well as road closures and parking suspensions put in place to ensure social distancing rules can be adhered to effectively.
Hand sanitiser stations will also be available in town centres and large public spaces.
Find out below the plans for town centre reopening in Lutterworth and Market Harborough
Digital Boost - Boost your Digital Business Skills
Are you a small business or charity looking for help?
In response to the challenges that the COVID-19 crisis has presented, particularly in bulding digital capability, Digital Boost has been created to provide much needed digital support for small organisations.
Digital Boost is a partnership between BCG Digital Ventures and Founders4Schools,offering a platform for organisations in need to connect with volunteer digital experts. BCG Digital Ventures is a global company specialised in building new businesses or digital products for corporate clients. We are part of the management consultancy The Boston Consulting Group, and have a talented team of entrepreneurs, designers, digital marketers and software developers. Founders4Schools is an award-winning educational technology charity, whose mission is to inspire students and prepare them for the rapidly changing world of work. They do this by connecting educators with leaders of successful growing businesses in their community.
The platform will host a community of digital experts, who will offer one-to-one digital support to small businesses and charities free of charge to help them improve their digital capability to grow and prosper.
Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs Grant
A new dairy response fund will open for applications on 18th June.
With some dairy farmers facing financial difficulties and excess milk due to the coronavirus outbreak, the new fund will provide up to £10,000 each to help those dairy farmers most in need of support to sustain their business.
This funding, which will be paid out from 6 July, will help farmers maintain production capacity without impacts on animal welfare, following reduced demand for milk products as restaurants, bars and cafes have closed.
Qualifying farmers can apply for support to cover up to 70% of their losses due to coronavirus disruption across April and May, up to a total amount of £10,000 each.
Join us for this month's Innovation Friday in the morning on 26th June, to look to the future and explore how innovation can transform your business.
Hear from the university's Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, LLEP, business leaders and futurologists talk about how businesses are overcoming challenges from the Covid-19 crisis to make opportunities for new markets, growth and funding innovation.
Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership - Updates
The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Ltd. (LLEP) is proud to support the incredible logistics operations in Leicester and Leicestershire. Logistics is one of our key sectors; it's the industry that keeps the country's supply chains moving, our shops stocked and our hospitals equipped.
Leicester and Leicestershire sit on the eastern side of the 'Golden Triangle' formed by the M1, M42, and M6, motorways, a logistics hot spot where road, rail, sea and air links meet. Eighty percent of the UK's population can be reached within four hours by road.
It is estimated that the Midlands area offers 150 million square feet of warehouse space – more than in Greater London, Scotland and Wales combined.
This makes Leicestershire the place of choice for national distribution centres such as Magna Park, the biggest logistics park in Europe, and the SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway – a clean air solution for transport.
Renowned for its high density of distribution facilities, the Leicester and Leicestershire transport sector employs around 28,000 people in 2330 businesses. That's nearly six percent of jobs in the area.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown in March, Leicestershire's position in the supply chain has been more important than ever, as logistics operations rose to the challenge of keeping the country fed and supplied.
The Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership is looking to capture the effects, issues and opportunities created by COVID-19 on food and drink manufacturer businesses across this region.
The purpose of this comprehensive sector specific survey is to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on business activity and particularly to identify the type of support to assist business development and longer term planning.
To review what support is needed, it is vitally important that we receive your feedback on the type and level of support you would find of benefit to your business over the coming months.
