“KEEP your money in your pockets and support your local traders in December” is the strong message from Cornwall’s Chamber of Commerce boss in response to the lockdown restrictions affecting local businesses.
Chief executive of the CoC Kim Conchie has expressed huge frustration at the current situation which allows “scented candles to be sold at Sainsbury’s” while local independent shops have to shut.
“I think it’s completely unfair and it’s absolutely against what the Chamber of Commerce in Cornwall is trying to advocate at the moment with our “Choose Cornish” campaign,” he said.
“We would encourage people to have a look online this month for the sorts of things they want for Christmas but not buy anything yet.
“It sounds blunt, but we should keep our money in our pockets for these sorts of products and wait to buy them locally.”
The “golden quarter” for retail between now and Christmas would be vital, he said, for businesses which were hit earlier in the year, and said he feared the consequences of a further loss of trade in closures and redundancies.
On the subject of whether a continuation of local tiered restrictions would have been preferable to the month-long national lockdown, Mr Conchie said he had some sympathy with the Government’s position and accepted the necessity of national restrictions.
“Cases here are still low, and I think a lot of Cornish people will feel hard done by that we’re paying the price of carelessness elsewhere. I would have preferred Cornwall to have had a bit more freedom, but the trouble is, with no county borders, it’s very difficult to have a local lockdown.”
“What I am annoyed at, and the British Chamber has been lobbying on this for weeks, is that they left it until very late in the day to announce the reinstatement of the furloughing scheme.”
He said that this left businesses in the position of having laid people off that they could have kept on.
“I think that’s symptomatic of the lack of planning that has bedevilled our Government, which has been lurching from pillar to post.”
Mr Conchie has also backed calls from Liskeard Town Forum for support for businesses in the form of free parking.
While the Forum would like to see a longer term subsidy, Mr Conchie said he could not endorse blanket free parking – but that he advocated it as an emergency measure in November. Granting this, he said, could help some businesses survive.
The Chamber of Commerce has highlighted websites such as Naturally Cornish, A Little Piece of Cornwall and A Gift from Cornwall, as well as the Made in Cornwall Scheme, as good places to support local makers.