Coronavirus: Peterborough business ‘a shining example’ during pandemic

There are some that are finding a way, including Westcombe Engineering in Peterborough - a social enterprise owned by the council which provides permanent employment and work experience for disabled people.

Westcombe has changed the lives of so many skilled and talented disabled people, their families and communities and I am pleased that has continued in the most uncertain of times.

Like many businesses, Westcombe shut up shop when the Prime Minister imposed the strict lockdown, but after a comprehensive risk assessment reopened with a phased return of staff, rising from 20 per cent of the workforce being in operation to 81 per cent now.

The management introduced sweeping changes to working practises to ensure staff were protected including staggered lunch and tea breaks, hygiene stations, regular team discussions, additional changing rooms and toilets, spacing out lockers, stopping people clocking in and out and only allowing essential visitors on site.

With the Prime Minister encouraging some sectors to return to work this week, Westcombe is an example of how this can be achieved whilst abiding by the stringent social distancing and hygiene measures.

Even during these unprecedented times, Westcombe Engineering is experiencing its busiest period since the business started operating in 1970, securing new orders for existing customers Caterpillar Inc and Advanced Handling.

Only this week it had another new machining centre delivered to support a significant order, which involves supplying high precision machined parts which fit into a battery module, to allow the electrification conversion of school buses in America.

Westcombe is a shining example of how businesses, paying attention to Government and Public Health England guidance, can set their wheels in motion once again.

There are other businesses too across the city which have continued to operate, indeed prosper. But I know for many others it continues to be a worrying time. Please read the guidance that is coming from the government and consider carefully how it affects your own business, both in terms of the support that is available and when certain industries can begin to operate again.

We continue to administer the small business grants, which provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs, and a £25,000 grant for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.

I’m delighted to say we’ve so far paid out in the region of £27 million to around 2,300 businesses. That’s 93.26 per cent of the payments we need to make, making us level best in the country for getting these grants out to local businesses and better than anywhere else in Cambridgeshire.

Further payments will continue to be made over the coming days. Businesses which qualify for the grants do not need to do anything, the council will pay the money directly into their accounts.

We’ve also awarded 100 per cent business rate relief for 1,255 retail/hospitality/leisure businesses, totalling £36,255,343, and there are 31 nurseries eligible for relief of £337,656.

We know how valuable these grants are to support businesses and to allow them to support their employees, so we have pulled out all the stops to be able to award them swiftly.

In further good news, the Government announced on Tuesday that the furlough scheme, which pays the wages of workers on leave because of coronavirus, will be extended until October. This will bring significant relief to many businesses and workers across the city.

This week we heard more from Government about how we can take baby steps forward and reduce the lockdown.

One of the first ways we have done this in Peterborough is to reopen the Household Recycling Centre (HRC) in Fengate which happened on Monday.

I was pleased to see on social media that people have said how well managed this has been on site. Thank you to those who have visited for avoiding peak times, for their patience and for adhering to social distancing whilst at the site.

It was disappointing to see that we have seen an increase in fly-ipping coinciding with us having to close the HRC.

I am sure this will be just a blip and that we will see a reduction in this now the recycling centre is back in operation.

You can rest assured the council will continue to work hard to keep its residents safe and well and to keep the city moving.