Kirklees Council seek businesses to take part in campaign
Plans are underway for a multi-channel communication campaign that will encourage Kirklees residents to support local businesses whilst remaining COVID safe. The campaign will cover the whole of Kirklees but will concentrate on the following town centres – Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Holmfirth.
What businesses can apply?
Businesses that are located in these areas are being invited to apply to be featured in the campaign and applications from the following sectors will be considered – retail, hospitality, market traders, hairdressing/beauty, entertainment/leisure, banking, professional services, healthcare.
The campaign which is part of the Reopening The High Street Fund, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, will feature some of the businesses that are selected. Selection will be based on the following criteria – COVID compliance, location, availability and diversity. In the event of there being more applicants than can be featured then businesses will be selected using computerised random selection. Those selected will take part in a COVID safe photoshoot at their premises and the images will be used in the campaign.
Why should businesses take part?
Any business that applies, is open at the time of the campaign and meets the COVID compliance and location criteria will have the opportunity to have their website featured as a link on the campaign website which will feature businesses that are open and are part of the campaign in our towns.
Cllr Peter McBride Cabinet Member for Regeneration said:
“We are committed to making sure our town centres are safe and ready to welcome visitors back in line with the Government’s roadmap. We want this campaign to showcase what our towns have to offer and celebrate the great work that local businesses are doing to keep customers safe. The opportunity to be involved in this campaign is open to all businesses that meet the criteria, and whilst not all will inevitably feature, we do hope to be able to shout about all those that apply on our website to show that Kirklees is open. If you run a town centre business why not help us to support you by getting involved.”
The deadline for applications is 4 March 2020.
Businesses proprietors that want to apply should email Communication@kirklees.gov.uk with their business name, address, telephone number and details of which sector they represent. They are also encouraged to provide any website and social media account details. We will contact successful applicants on the week commencing 8 March to arrange a photo shoot.
Business selection criteria
We will be looking for SME businesses (B2C) in:
- Huddersfield Town Centre
- Dewsbury Town Centre
- Batley Town Centre
- Cleckheaton Town Centre
- Heckmondwike Town Centre
- Holmfirth Town Centre
To take part in a mixed media campaign to encourage people to come back into town as restrictions are lifted.
We will be looking to feature businesses that represent the following sectors
- Essential Retail
- Non-Essential Retail
- Café/restaurant (Offering takeaways or outdoor dining)
- Market traders
- Hairdresser/barber
- Bar/pub
- Post office/bank/lawyer or accountant
- Optician/dental/health
We will select businesses based on the following criteria:
1. COVID Compliance
Ability to demonstrate compliance and understanding of measures required to keep people COVID safe (based on our knowledge from summer 2020) alongside food hygiene, environmental health and trading standards data.
2. Location
We need to have representation from all towns mentioned above, so where there is less representation from one location we will prioritise applications from that area to allow for a fair spread.
3. Availability of business representative and readiness of their premises at the time of filming
Due to COVID restrictions, we will need to carry out filming within a short timeframe so we are looking for businesses that can visually demonstrate how they will open safely when restrictions allow.
4. The local restrictions in place at the time of artwork submission
If restrictions mean that your business cannot be open at that time we will have to withdraw any artwork from the campaign
5. Diversity
We want our campaign to reflect the cultural diversity in Kirklees. We would like to see a mix of businesses and representatives that will help us promote the wide and varied retail and leisure offer on our high streets.
6. Random selection
Once we have applied the above criteria if we still have more applicants than we can feature we will use computerised random selection to choose the businesses we want to feature in the campaign.
The decision of the council on the businesses chosen to take part in the campaign is final.
European Regional Development Fund
The project is receiving funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. More information about ERDF