Princes Risborough Town council 'basket' working to keep the high street alive

By working with local independent traders at a time when shops have had to remain closed, the scheme provides a new outlet to the market that many retailers did not have. This is the Council’s way to ensure that their local High Street traders will still be in business when restrictions are lifted.

David Shuttle, who runs a Cookware shop that is part of The Risborough Basket explains, “when we were ordered to close by the Government, our trade dried up overnight. The basket scheme means that our loyal customers can shop from home and have the things they need delivered the same day. Otherwise they would have to wait until we reopened in weeks, or maybe months – it’s been a lifeline.”

The Risborough Basket scheme provides all residents the chance to connect directly by telephone with local retailers, as well as access to the Council’s new fruit and vegetable scheme, with all orders being delivered to the customer later the same day.

The whole scheme is staffed and delivered by volunteers, local councillors, and council officers who take telephone orders, pick and pack shopping, coordinate logistics and deliveries, manage stock control, rota volunteers, process payments and deliver to the doorstep; all while observing recommended social distancing throughout the process.

Established in a matter of hours in the Princes Centre (the town’s social care centre), the Council signed up Retailers, contacted all its residents and set-up its own fruit, vegetable, and essentials retail business ready for trading. Over 2500 orders have already been taken, coordinated and delivered in just four weeks.

Town Mayor and Chairman, Councillor Matthew Walsh describes the scheme, “We wanted to put in place a scheme that would not only provide our residents with the goods they need in lockdown, but importantly keep our local traders in business; The Risborough Basket is what we came up with and it seems to have hit the right spot.”

As well as being recognised by the new Buckinghamshire Council, organisers have already received approaches from councils in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and London, interested in replicating the scheme. In fact, it has received international recognition with a call from a New York resident asking for support for his local mother, and a request for advice in setting up a similar scheme in Ontario, Canada.

Councillor Walsh says, “We find ourselves in a time of international crisis when we need to think up new approaches to delivering what residents need in order to help them Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives. The Risborough Basket is our way of ensuring this.”