Blog by Ad Leeks, Communications Officer (Infrastructure), Sustrans Scotland
It is well known to those who support Sustrans that we are committed to upholding our five key values: Including everyone; Having the courage to question; Getting things done, together; Always learning; and Acting local, thinking big. Of these, ‘Acting local, thinking big’, has taken on a unique importance in recent times, and not just for Sustrans, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
After five months of national lockdown, local businesses all throughout Scotland are feeling the strain of so much lost income. While this has been necessary in order to keep us all safe, even with government support, the damage to local economies has been devastating. With restrictions now easing and customers cautiously returning to the high street, we all have an important opportunity to support those closest to us whilst following the latest health guidance.
As a crucial part of the recovery effort for local businesses, Sustrans is proud to be a supporter of the Scotland Loves Local campaign. By forging partnerships with the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Grocers Association and the Scottish Government, Scotland’s Towns Partnership is committed to ensuring our families, friends and neighbours who own businesses are all able to get back on their feet whilst ensuring we’re all protected. By raising awareness through both digital and traditional media outlets, Scotland Loves Local is encouraging people to shop locally in a safe and responsible manner wherever possible. Whether this means putting on a facemask and walking across to get your hair cut or taking part in some physically distant queuing outside of the local butcher or grocer, each individual action taken contributes to the larger Covid-19 economic recovery.
For our part, Sustrans know that by choosing to walk, wheel or cycle, you can help boost your local economy in addition to keeping active and reducing congestion. This is why we’re partnering with local authorities throughout Scotland to deliver on the Scottish Government’s Spaces for People programme. Well under way, this programme is delivering sweeping temporary changes that will make it far easier and safer for people to get around their local areas, and Scotland Loves Local is an important part of that. One major issue many traders are currently facing is simply not having enough street space available outside their stores to ensure physical distancing can be provided. By providing temporary changes such as widened pavements, slower traffic speeds and pop-up cycle lanes, we will have more space to access businesses safely and, once there, have a much easier time physically distancing in queues.
As a resident of Leith, I’m fairly spoiled for choice when it comes to shopping in my local area. In one round trip, meandering from The Shore, along Great Junction Street, to the Foot of the Walk and back again, I can get a haircut, a hot potato, and new pair of shoes if I so wish. The most missed part of my neighbourhood experience, however, has been the Leith market at Dock Place, occurring every Saturday. While not having the same bustle and chatter as it did prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, trading has now been able to resume safely. From stallholders I’ve personally spoken to, this is a much-needed lifeline. If they and those in similar positions throughout Scotland are to continue trading, we need to give them the local support they deserve.
Blog by Ad Leeks, Communications Officer (Infrastructure), Sustrans Scotland
Image: Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen, by Alessandro Forbais
