Our contract opportunities

We have been awarded funding to deliver projects within key locations around the borough to:

• improve business resilience to COVID-19
• strengthen the local economy
• improve the aesthetic of our towns
• instil confidence in local people that it is safe to visit and shop here

To re-energise our centres, we will be organising:

• local high street events
• community created local artwork
• improved street furniture to make the areas more welcoming

We will be running a major advertising and social media campaign from November 2021 to March 2022 encouraging Thurrock to 'shop local'. An important element of this work is to help support independent businesses who are operating in our local high streets, many of whom have struggled to manage during the coronavirus pandemic. We are looking to appoint an organisation that has expertise in this area and can support the objectives outlined in our supporting documents.

The Welcome Back Fund is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

We require an experienced social media and marketing specialist to coordinate and provide communications under the Welcome Back Fund programme. Communications activities to ensure the reopening of local economies can be managed successfully and safely will run from late 2021 until the end of March 2022. Activities will include:

• support to develop an action plan for how the local authority may begin to safely reopen their local economies
• communications and public information
• business-facing awareness-raising
• temporary public realm changes
• support to promote a safe public environment for the local visitor economy
• support the local authority to develop plans for responding to the medium-term impact of COVID-19, in particular trialling new ideas that relate to the High Street

The Welcome Back Fund is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).