Great news – following the ‘Shop Local’ business summit last month, South Cambridgeshire District Council have agreed to make Waterbeach a pilot for its rural economic strategy. This will mean not only helping us to develop a strategy to boost the economy but also individual support for local businesses. The decision was formally taken Planning & Economic Development Portfolio Holders meeting. I was delighted to press how important this support is for the local economy.
This specific support is excellent news and continues the work the community has been doing on our shop local campaign which aims to keep the village’s businesses open. Multi-agency meetings and the recent summit we held have also helped get us to this stage. Any community would be hit by the loss of 900 military personnel and I hope all the local businesses take full advantage of this offer and together we can make sure they see trade moving in the right direction
External business organisations commented on how unique it was to see such a sustained ‘Shop Local’ campaign in a community.
Certainly I believe that we can go into 2014 with a sense of optimism.
