Every citizen in every town can drive economicrecovery…

THERE’S no doubting it’s been a stressful and arduous couple of months coping with the threat of COVID-19. And while the threat hasn’t completely vanished, we can at least look forward to returning to normal life on a stage by stage basis.

The past few months has brought many aspects of everyday life into sharp focus, not least the delicate way in which local businesses rely on local support. The ‘economic devastation’ spoken of by so many economists tends to focus on the border impact on national and international perspectives.

Yet the response to COVID-19, and our eventual recovery, will need a bottom/up trajectory rather than a top/ down one. To achieve this, people must start seeing their local economies as essential to local recovery - the support of every citizen in every town is necessary.

Our high street and village shops are the covert symbols of identity and growth; places we take for granted because we see them day after day; and yet behind this network of shop fronts is a story etched in the community’s economic and social progress.

Together, we must support the places where we live, work and socialise as we make our way out of this pandemic. We need to recalibrate our economic thinking in a way that asks: ‘can I buy this locally?’; we need to know that our high street and village shops are the micro economies that support the jobs that support people’s prospects of living in communities where they come from.

The economic recovery has already started, but it’s up to each of us to ensure it is a locally driven recovery.