Measures to be adopted to help rebuild Warwickshire's economy

A series of measures are set to be adopted by Warwickshire County Council in a bid to help rebuild the region’s economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Councillors at this week’s cabinet meeting supported the three proposals to aid economic recovery and to look into launching a Warwickshire Recovery and Investment Fund.

In announcing the items at the start of the virtual meeting, leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Con, Stour and the Vale), explained: “There are a suite of papers here in connection with coronavirus and now moving into our recovery stage.

"They are all intrinsically connected and I welcome the work that has gone on.

“This has been a significant period in Warwickshire County Council’s history.

"We have responded to support our residents as a unit along with our colleagues at the district and borough councils.

"It has been an enormously active time and I have to commend our officers who have moved swiftly to change the way of working.”

She announced the creation of four cabinet working groups to cover Place, Economy and Climate (including skills and education); Community and Voluntary Sector; Health Wellbeing and Social Care; and Organisation (including the reinstatement of services).

Cllr Seccombe added: “It is a very long time, if ever, since we had cabinet working groups and I value the input of members of the organisation and members of the council coming forward to support these four working groups in their role about how we as an organisation step up in response to recovery for Warwickshire.

“I think it is a significant change and a way of engaging people in their particular interests.”

There was cross party support for the proposals with the working groups reporting back ahead of September’s cabinet meeting.

Cllr Peter Butlin (Con, Admiral and Cawston), portfolio holder for finance and property, outlined the plans for the investment fund.

He explained: “This is in the early stages of development because it has to go through legal and constitutional scrutiny in terms of what we can and can’t do in terms of lending to businesses in the form of grants or taking stakes in companies.

“I’m hopeful that we can create a fund that we can invest into the creation of jobs and opportunities in Warwickshire post Covid.

“At a LEP meeting the other week it was drawn to our attention that there could be 100,000 job losses between us and Coventry which is sobering to say the least.

"But the strengths that made Warwickshire prior to Covid are still there. I am quite excited about what this can offer and what it can do for job creation in Warwickshire and the recovery.”