TENDRING is ready to get back to business after Covid-19 with 33 projects in the pipeline.

Tendring Council's cabinet has agreed to push ahead with projects totalling £4.5million, including a £250,00 scheme to transform Clacton Skate Park.

The Back to Business programme includes capital projects, seed funding for event organisers, and a series of pledges – such as to look at amending council policy to ensure Tendring-based firms are prioritised for contracts where possible.

The council has already allocated £862,000 to the programme while the rest of the budget has bene reprioritised from elsewhere, along with plans to spend existing funds more quickly.

Council leader Neil Stock said it shows Tendring is a place of opportunity and that the programme will also leverage in almost £2million of external funding.

“Like everyone else we are not immune to the impacts of Covid-19, and the ambitious programme of projects we set out last year have in many cases been deferred,” he said.

“But we do not want to just pick up where we left off – we want to speed up delivery on projects which are still relevant to make up that lost time, and in many cases we have re-prioritised what we are doing to provide the biggest lever to success in as short a time as possible.

“On the roadmap to recovering from the pandemic, we want to create a downward slope so we can gather pace and success – not set ourselves an uphill struggle – and bounce back quickly.

“This is not just about us spending money, but also supporting the wider economy to flourish through a range of measures targeted at fuelling local businesses.”

Among the projects forming the programme is a £250,00 scheme to overhaul Clacton Skate Park, £50,000 to support small local businesses set up a trading website, and £30,000 to support local firms to expand apprenticeship schemes for residents in the area.

The council is also looking to hand out further grants totalling £30,000 for mental health support groups in the district in the coming months.

The plan also calls for speeding up the long-awaited £1.5million plans to regenerate the Starlings site in Dovercourt town centre.