Members of business networking group Mansfield and Ashfield 2020 had an opportunity to put questions to the town’s MP, Ben Bradley, and the strategic director of Mansfield District Council, Mike Robinson, over the coronavirus crisis and how the town could recover from the economic problems the pandemic is causing.

Mansfield and Ashfield 2020 hosted the question and answer session via a video call.

Chris Painter-Heywood, of Brambles Florist, Mansfield, asked: “How do you propose supporting your local high street retailers when the lock down is lifted? By encouraging shopping locally, it will help to increase community spirit and boost the local economy.”

Mike Robinson said: “We are working with other agencies to address this on a county level. We are surveying businesses in the area to determine the impact that Covid-19 has had so that we can formulate policies and interventions that will provide the right level of support.

“On a local level, we were already working on a masterplan approach to try to regenerate key sites, including the town centre. I think it’s more important than ever that we develop ideas to support local retailers using initiatives such as shop local schemes and loyalty schemes.

“It will be hard to determine what this will look like until we have further information on what the end of lockdown will mean for events such as mass gatherings and if any continued social distancing measures are put in place.

“We will also need to make the most of the previous announcements around the increase in students flowing through the town due to the collaboration at Vision West Nottinghamshire College and Nottingham Trent University.”

Ben Bradley added: “The fundamentals haven’t changed in that we were already discussing the need to diversify the high street, to move away from just retail and add in leisure and service offerings that will attract the footfall into the town.

“It’s also important that these retailers are able to be innovative so this could be around higher online sales or increased social media presence as this could help those businesses become more viable in the future. We have the Town Deal and Future High Street fund money that will be vital in investing and transforming the town centre.”

For a full report of the questions and answers, click here.

Gary Jordan, chair of Mansfield and Ashfield 2020, said they thanked both Ben and Mike for taking the time to speak to members about their Covid-19 concerns.