Falmouth has sprung out of lockdown with a “joined-up plan” that is being rolled out across the south west and beyond. 

The Falmouth Town Team (the destination management partnership between Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID) and Falmouth Town Council), has showcased its Positive Engagement Plan with Cornwall Council, BIDs across the south west and other regional organisations, and has issued a series of  toolkits to help businesses get back on their feet. 

From branded hand sanitisers installed throughout the town and a new hope-filled ‘Falmouth, Spirit of the Sea’ rainbow logo; to liveried posters, window decals and informative signs at key locations that aim to guide shoppers on social distancing, the combined effort is a welcoming and optimistic view to the future of this popular year-round seaside town.

The Positive Engagement Plan is being used as a recovery template for other towns across the region. Projects within the plan are framed within six key focus areas – business engagement, community engagement, public realm, creative, online and branding and communications.

These six thematic areas are then assigned into immediate, medium and long-term priorities.

The immediate tasks over the next six weeks have already begun, with pedestrian-friendly streets and traffic control measures that enable safe distancing guidelines to be adhered to instigated, alongside other measures that include branded promotional literature and a key focus on hygiene and cleanliness throughout the town with volunteer clean teams engaged in the effort.

Following on will be medium term plans which include digital business upskilling programmes and further public space improvements, while longer term place-shaping goals involve new events, e-travel and partner-led community health and wellbeing schemes.

Richard Wilcox, Falmouth BID Manager, said: “The strength of community spirit, innovation and collaboration is very strong in Falmouth and as a Town Team, we wanted to capitalise on this with our proactive recovery planning framework. Businesses and residents have faced up to the Covid challenge with great resolve, wanted to work alongside us and we have supported their proactive ideas and schemes.

“We have also been asked to play a regional leadership role, helping support many other towns and areas to open safely and confidently over the next few weeks, doing what we can to ensure our communities can thrive.”

The Falmouth Town Team will be installing more bespoke Falmouth-branded signage, promotional literature and dressing over the next two weeks, in addition to rolling out a B- Roll movie and other collateral that highlights collaborative and proactive Falmouth.

The Mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Steve Eva, has been handing out free, branded safe distance stickers to businesses, volunteer teams are undertaking litter picks and regeneration work, information adverts are being installed at bus shelter sites, while Falmouth-logoed sanitiser stations are being topped up.