An ambitious recovery plan has been approved by Northumberland County Council’s Cabinet, which sets out how the Council and the county as a whole can recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Index of information on this page:

• Leader's Pledge
• Business recovery
• Education recovery for children & young people
• Environmental recovery and local services report
• Tourism recovery
• Adult social care recovery report

The recovery plan was agreed at a special meeting of the Council’s Cabinet to discuss it’s response to the virus, and what the Council and its partners must do to emerge from the challenges of Covid-19 and its long term impact.

• The full Covid-19 Planning for Recovery in Northumberland report is available here

At the heart of the plan is a pledge to ensure the county’s tourism economy comes back stronger than ever, by working with partners and businesses and investing to promote all that is great about Northumberland. This recognised that the hospitality, accommodation providers, food and drink, and retail sectors were particularly hard hit by the pandemic, at a time when which would ordinarily be the run up to peak tourist season.

Continued regeneration of the county remains a priority in recovery, and the Council plans to work with the Government to accelerate plans for re-opening the Northumberland Line, which includes investment in town centres starting with Blyth, Hexham, Bedlington and Ashington as well as working on plans to invest in the future of our rural towns. A dedicated Covid Business Hub will become a permanent feature and continue to provide ongoing support and advice, after paying out over £90m in grants to local businesses over the last two months.

There are real concerns that young people could potentially be impacted significantly as a result of disruption to education, exams, routes into higher and further education and jobs and apprenticeships.

Action on climate change remains a priority for the Council and they will drive forward the delivery of their Climate Action Plan, including plans to plant 1 million new trees as part of the Great Northumberland Forest, and plans to establish a groundbreaking Forest Partnership to support our new green economy.

We have been working incredibly hard to support businesses through this crisis, paying out millions of pounds in grants, and actively lobbying the Government to bring forward further measures to help the tourism sector.

Tourism in Northumberland had been increasing year on year before the virus hit, which makes recovery even more important. This is exactly why we have put significant investment into a new state-of-the-art digital offer for Visit Northumberland, alongside a fresh new brand.
 
Alongside the package of support we have secured through the North of Tyne Covid Capacity Fund specifically for the tourism businesses, this investment will help kick start the visitor economy and ensure Northumberland continues to be a destination of choice.

As we move carefully into recovery, our top priority must and will always be doing all we can to protect the health of all our residents.