WEST Devon’s high streets will see an injection of £90,000 to help them recover from the Covid-19 crisis.

West Devon Borough Council announced this week an additional support package of £70,000 on top of £20,000 already made available to get town centres back on their feet.

The council is working in partnership with town councils and chambers of commerce on a number of proposals to support the local economy. These include a town centre boost grant, business training, advice and support, marketing campaigns for the area, local events and amending some car park and toilet provision to encourage shoppers and visitors to shop on the high streets.

Leader of West Devon Borough Council, Cllr Neil Jory, said: ‘I’m delighted to announce this package of support for our local towns.

‘We are proposing a range of measures because I believe that it is so very important that we do what we can to get the high streets back onto their feet, not just now but over the coming year. We are committed to working in partnership with our town councils to improve our local economy.’

This news comes after Okehampton was said to be very much ‘open for business’ by Central Devon MP Mel Stride, who used a visit to the town on Monday to urge everyone to come out and support the town’s traders.

Mr Stride issued a joint appeal with county councillor Kevin Ball for residents to support local traders and businesses trying to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: ‘The Government has done a great deal to support local businesses. In our Central Devon constituency, businesses have received over £26-million in grants, 12,000 employees have been furloughed and over £50-million of bounce back loans have been provided. But the Government can only do so much. If businesses are to survive we need spending habits to return to normal as quickly as possible.’

Cllr Ball said: ‘Okehampton has lots of independent and family-run shops. If we don’t support them now we could well lose some of them, which would be devastating for the owners and our town would be much worse off.’

His comments were echoed by borough and town councillor and Okehampton mayor Julie Yelland, who said: ‘It was great Mel was able to visit Okehampton to help us get the message out that Okehampton is very much open for business.

‘Our shops have gone to great lengths to make sure they are adhering to social distancing guidelines and safety precautions and it really is safe for people to come and shop.

‘Okehampton has many unique shops with lots of choices on offer and we want them to thrive, so it is vital that we shop local and support them.’

The Government’s new Eat Out to Help Out scheme, offering a discount for people eating out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during August, is also doing its bit to boost things, eateries report. Establishments taking part can claim 50% off the bill for food and non-alcoholic drinks up to a maximum of £10 per person.