Gedling Borough Council is launching a new campaign to get more people to shop in their local town centres.
The #Rediscover campaign will be running throughout the festive season to support and promote local businesses and also to encourage residents to shop locally this Christmas.
This campaign has been funded through the recently announced European Regional Development Fund ‘Welcome Back Fund’, whose aim is to promote coronavirus safety messages while getting more people to shop locally.
As part of the campaign, Gedling Borough Council is launching a new web page for local businesses to promote themselves for free, providing residents with shop overviews, contact details, locations and information about the businesses.
The campaign is aimed at getting residents to rediscover old and new local businesses, including all high streets within Gedling Borough following the lifting of lockdown measures.
As well as a web page, the funding will be used to improve the look of the town centres visual appearance with plans for temporary signage and decorations to be installed promoting the campaign.
An online advent calendar will be launched on 1 December promoting local businesses in the borough.
Every day in December, as we countdown to Christmas, a local business will be highlighted on the council’s social media platforms.
Businesses and residents will be able to take part in the #Rediscover campaign by taking photos with selfie cards made up for each town centre and posting them on social media. So far, over 40 businesses have signed up to the scheme and Gedling Borough Council is encouraging as many small and independent businesses to sign up too.
The campaign will also promote upcoming free events and activities including Christmas Craft Markets, Christmas light switch ons and Santa’s Grotto.
Shops in Arnold Town Centre are also being invited to take part in a Christmas window competition which will be judged by the Mayor, Leader and Deputy Leader in December. The campaign is also supporting the national Small Business Saturday event, which takes place on Saturday 4 December across the country.
The project is receiving over £100,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund.
Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations.
Leader of the Council, Councillor John Clarke said:
“We’re very pleased to be launching the #Rediscover campaign over the Christmas period to help our local businesses and encourage residents to shop locally within Gedling Borough. It’s a great way for everyone to reunite and essentially rediscover their high-streets, by experiencing some normality after the unfortunate events over the last couple of years. This would not be possible without the funding from the European Regional Development Fund, we greatly appreciate your support. We have some exciting activities coming up on the lead up to Christmas and the campaign is part of the council’s priorities to revitalise our town centres and help create a more vibrant economy.”
Any businesses that want to add their details to the #Rediscover database and be part of the campaign can visit www.gedling.gov.uk/rediscover and fill out a short form.