West of England Regional Recovery Taskforce

The West of England Recovery Taskforce has put together a Regional Recovery Plan which outlines how we will harness our region’s creativity and diversity to protect and secure jobs, while building back greener and creating opportunities for all residents to share in the recovery.

The recovery plan includes measures to help businesses adapt to the new economic landscape and improve resilience, as well as support for residents to develop new skills, training and employment opportunities.

The plan sets out five key ambitions:

1. Rebuilding business, helping new and existing businesses to survive and thrive; to safeguard existing, and create new jobs
2. Getting residents back into jobs that pay above the living wage and offer employment security, through training and work to match skills to opportunities
3. Strengthen inclusion, preventing further widening of inequalities and building an inclusive economy where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their potential
4. A green recovery, using changes in behaviour brought about by the pandemic to accelerate transition to net zero carbon
5. Renewing places, creating greener, healthier, more vibrant places to live and work.

You can read the full plan here.

This work has been led by the West of England Combined Authority and the Local Enterprise Partnership. WECA has committed £9.4m to support implementing the plan, taking WECA’s total investment businesses and skills to over £100m over the next four years. This includes business support, skills and employment initiatives. You can find out more about all this work here. 

The taskforce also continues to:

• Look at the impact of the government’s economic measures on businesses and communities, identifying where additional support is needed.
• Feed back to government, lobbying to ensure the West of England has what it needs for economic recovery; advising and supporting a managed exit from lockdown arrangements, identifying the next stages of financial support needed.
• Make sure the West of England has the right public transport, physical and digital infrastructure. WECA is already working with bus and rail companies to ensure key workers can get to work. This work with public transport partners will continue, to ensure they continue to operate as we move into recovery.

The Taskforce currently meets every month to put the plan into action. Our past and upcoming taskforce meetings are listed below. You can view the minutes of each meeting by clicking on the meeting number.

Past and future Taskforce meetings