Agenda item

This report details the measures taken by the council’s business support team to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the borough’s small business community during the ongoing pandemic

Karen Galey – (Assistant Director for the Economy) introduced the report, which provided details of the measures taken by the council’s business support team to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the borough’s small business community during the ongoing pandemic.

The Chair thanked Karen Galey for the overview and invited Councillor Guy Vincent (Local Business Champion) to address the committee. Councillor Guy Vincent highlighted the wide range of businesses operating within the borough and explained that he wished to place on record his thanks to those people that had been working so hard over the last nine months – the Business Rates Team (administering all the grant monies), the Business Support Team (working with business and across Council departments) and finally, the businesses themselves.

It was noted the borough had a very active community of businesses and Hammersmith and Fulham’s Business Network meetings had been taking place every two weeks (with between 20 and 30 business representatives attending each time). Councillor Guy Vincent explained that the Business Network was particularly valuable as it enabled businesses to let the Council know what its needs were, share ideas and enable businesses to support each other locally.

The Chair explained that several Business Network representatives were in attendance and he invited each of them in turn to relay their experiences of the action the Council had taken so far.

Patricia Bench of Hammersmith BID provided a summary of the actions the organisation took at the start of the pandemic, to ensure it had a sustainable model in place going forwards. These actions included attending Business Network meetings on a weekly basis, setting up virtual forums for those businesses it directly supported and liaison with other agencies such as the Police and TfL (as there were concerns about security / transportation and the possibility of civil unrest at the outset of the pandemic).

Hammersmith BID welcomed being part of the Council’s Shop Local, Shop Safe campaign which played a large part in the BID’s strategy to open up Hammersmith again (to ensure people felt safe to come back into Hammersmith and use retail again) when lockdown restrictions were eased. It was noted the Office sector had been slower to return than retail, but matters had accelerated after the schools returned.

Hammersmith BID had worked closely with the Council, especially Karen Galey’s team on the Your Space / Our Space aspects and the Council had been particularly helpful in fast tracking the permissions businesses requited to operate legally. Other welcome actions included the reinstatement of the video screen in Lyric Square which had given residents a semblance of normality.

Hammersmith BID welcomed the new round of grant funding which would be far more tailored towards Hammersmith businesses and working with the Council to ensure further finding opportunities were disseminated across the borough. Details were provided on the Privilege Card and how the use of this had been repurposed when the Hammersmith reopened, to warn people of how the heart of Hammersmith was now operating (with social distancing measures and new cycle lanes). Patricia Bench underlined how important it was for businesses to be quick and pivotal throughout the pandemic and highlighted the role social media and digital forums had played.

Vi Chu, Landsec, Centre Director for W12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush provided an overview of the shopping centre’s retail units, operations and furlough arrangements during the first lockdown. Vi Chu thanked Councillor Vincent and the Council’s Business Continuity Team for the assistance the Business Network had provided to the shopping centre by providing social distancing / hand washing guidance and  signage to enable businesses to operate safely.

Vi Chu highlighted that he had worked in partnership with Hammersmith BID and the shopping centre had been used as an official food bank collection point during the first lockdown and would continue to do so as the country entered the second lockdown period. It was noted that Pizza Express (on the periphery of the shopping centre) had benefited from the Your Space, Our Space protocols and Vi Chu praised the Shop Safe, Shop Local campaign the Council had devised. Concluding his remarks, Vi Chu confirmed that due to the assistance he had received, the shopping centre was currently operating at 60% of its normal operating capacity.

Sarah King, from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) provided an overview of how the FSBs activities had evolved over time. She confirmed the Business Task Force, led by Councillor Vincent, and assisted by Council officers had played a significant role in bringing business partnerships and communities  together throughout the lockdown. She confirmed the Council’s Shop Safe, Shop Local campaign, with its distinctive rainbow colouring,  was one of the first of its kind in the capital and had now been emulated by several Authorities across London.

Sarah King confirmed the weekly FSB bite-sized newsletter was used to tell businesses about Council initiatives, the available grants and it was also used to encourage businesses to sign up to the Council’s newsletter so that information could be easily shared across parties. Closing  her remarks, Sarah King thanked the Council for its work in supporting businesses and the self-employed within the borough.

Councillor Andrew Jones echoed the sentiments which had been expressed previously and thanked officers, partners, the BID and the FSB for their hard work. Councillor Andrew Jones confirmed that during the first lockdown, the council had engaged with more businesses than it ever had before, and the Business Networks had enabled the Economy Team to provide an agile response to the pandemic. Officers were praised for their work in disseminating the various grant funding. Given the new business partnerships and networks that had developed in the first lockdown, Councillor Andrew Jones confirmed that the Council was well placed to support businesses, maintain employment and assist businesses to thrive in these challenging times.

Councillor Rowan Ree asked what powers the Council had to enforce face mask wearing in public. Drawing on his retail experience, Vi Chu explained that businesses had no powers to enforce mask wearing and only the Police could do this. However, as their resources were overstretched, he had found the best way, was to politely remind the public in person (when shopping) and by using the shopping centre’s PA system. He highlighted that matters had not been helped by the governments’ confusing guidelines in the first lockdown which had permitted shop staff not to wear masks.

Councillor Guy Vincent commented that as a result of complaints he had received, the Environmental Health Enforcement Team had visited over 100 hairdressers and barbers across the borough to ensure they were operating safely. And in terms of face masks, he reiterated that education and gentle enforcement were the preferred option. He highlighted that Councillor Ben Coleman had written to local supermarkets to encourage them to do as much as they could to protect the public and their own employees.

Councillor Donald Johnson thanked officers and Councillors for their efforts in shoring up confidence in the business community. Pointing to the officer report and the contraction of the business community, including the 5000 job losses, he asked what steps were being taken by the Council (especially in the low carbon sector) to encourage people  to get back into the economy and businesses up and running again. He also asked for comments on the establishment of a green economy.

In response, Councillor Andrew Jones confirmed that the green economy was a central theme of the council’s Industrial Strategy but in terms of the statistics raised in the report, more work was required to drill down into these. Hammersmith’s green economy was different to that of outer London boroughs, as it tended to focus on biotech starts ups and the Green Knowledge economy. Councillor Andrew Jones confirmed the green economy was not about doing less, but supporting businesses to innovate. 

Karen Galey confirmed that the projections in the officer’s report were taken from work which had been commissioned in May from Oxford Economics, as part of the West London  Alliance. Comments were provided on the scale of the contraction and Karen Galey confirmed it would be beneficial if this was revisited in the future. Details were provided on the 15-minute neighbourhoods concept, including shopping locally and the tie-in with the green agenda. Concluding, she confirmed the Council was well placed in its green starts up and scale up with its partnership with Imperial to drive these forwards.

Councillor Guy Vincent explained how the Business Networks concept had originated and confirmed that the green agenda would be taken forwards with businesses when the future of high streets was discussed. He provided details of the parcels not pollution initiative which had been launched  by Hammersmith  BID and encouraged the attendees of the meeting to use the service for their Christmas shopping.

Councillor Donald Johnson stated it was important the Council continued to support local homeworking infrastructures which underpinned people’s ability to work from home at present and for the foreseeable future. Asking several supplementary questions, Councillor Donald Johnson enquired about empty buildings, in terms of rental  / deposit defaults and whether there was an appetite for landlords to sell theses off. And finally, Councillor Donald Johnson asked whether the Council had any plans to emulate Westminster Council whom had chosen to purchase table and seating at wholesale prices to provide additional socially distanced capacity for hospitality venues?

In response, Karen Galey confirmed that Hammersmith and Fulham had one of the largest rates of working from home of the west London boroughs due to residents either  being in managerial or highly skilled occupations which made the borough more resilient due to people’s working patterns. In relation to the empty buildings, Karen Galey confirmed that officers were currently looking creatively and innovately at ways these could be repurposed in the future. Commenting on the tables and chairs issue, Councillor Guy Vincent confirmed the Council had not explored this as the borough did not have a Soho-type mass area which businesses could populate. However, as a final observation, he stated that the Your Space, Our Space initiative had been successful, as residents and businesses appreciated this was a symbiotic relationship.

Patricia Bench explained how the BID process operated and confirmed that should Hammersmith BID be re-elected in February 2021, it intended to intended to pilot 15 minute neighbourhoods and prior to Christmas, would be introducing the ‘Parcels to Home’ delivery service (by bicycle), as part of Bids green agenda to help reduce the number of local car journeys.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom referenced the statistics relating to businesses in the report and asked Karen Galey if officers could have a ‘covid-watch’ on those areas which were most vulnerable (by sector, size and the gross valued added [1] output of that segmentation).  Asking a supplementary question, she enquired what officers thoughts were on office space in the borough given the significant downturn in its use and the ramifications this was having on the local economy. In response, Karen Galey confirmed the Council would be conducting a survey of the borough top 100 Businesses to gauge  what their new working practices were. Karen Galey acknowledged that culture and the arts had been particularly badly affected and with the new round of government grants, the council would be revisiting those businesses which had fallen through the cracks with the latest funding opportunities. Clearly businesses needed funding as soon as possible, but Karen Galey confirmed that the Council would be looking at quick wins first such as assisting the Arts and Culture sectors. Moving forwards, Councillor Rowbottom suggested it would be useful if a matrix was produced which tracked how businesses were operating and responding, so the committee could see if this was in line with the Oxford Economic projections. She also suggested that the committee might revisit office space in a years’ time when the picture became clearer.

Action: That officers provide an update report in a year’s time covering how businesses had responded to the pandemic, as well as office space usage in the borough.

Councillor Adronie Alford commented that certain businesses were not taking track and trace details down as they did not feel it was their responsibility and she asked what the Council was doing about it. As well as the Enforcement Team, Councillor Guy Vincent confirmed the council had distributed posters to all the shops in the  borough (to display in their windows) which detailed what all the current legal requirements were including track and trace. If premises were flouting the rules, Councillor Vincent encouraged fellow Councillors to contact him or the Environmental Health Team, who would talk to and educate businesses accordingly. Councillor Guy Vincent suggested it was likely that businesses were not adhering to guidance in some cases as these were changing rapidly and non-compliance stemmed from ignorance.

Councillor Ann Rosenberg noted that disposable masks were being distributed at the entrance to some supermarkets for customers which had forgotten their masks. She asked whether the council might purchase some masks and donate these to small businesses to remind them that this is wat they ought to be doing. In response, Karen Galey confirmed that some limited European funding meant this might be possible on a limited scale.

The Chair asked what the net impact had been of more people working from home and therefore shopping locally, as compared to businesses not being open and retail not operating normally overall. In response, Karen Galey commented on how the Council had used the pandemic and shopping locally to support Hammersmith’s small and independent sector and focus on the 15-minute neighbourhood locality. Councillor Andrew Jones provided his reflections on the Oxford report,  15-minute neighbourhoods, shopping locally and residents working from home. Further observations included the positive aspects of independent smaller businesses, the recovery of the hospitality sector and the high proportion of residents in the creative and knowledge industries. Councillor Guy Vincent commented that the local business economy had responded, and residents were shopping locally and supporting these businesses across the whole of the borough.

Summarising discussions, the Chair confirmed the Committee applauded many of the initiatives which had been discussed and were encouraged by the feedback the Business Network representatives had provided on the assistance they had received from the Council. Looking forwards, the Committee noted the 15-minute neighbourhood concept, shop safe / shop local, as well as several years of cross organisational learning which had been achieved in such a short space of time. As a final remark, the Chair thanked all the participants for their hard work and contributions to the local economy and confirmed that committee would revisit some of the themes explored during the meeting at a future committee meeting.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted and commented on the report.