Residents spend £845K with Herefordshire Shop Local cards

The Shop Local card was launched to help retailers through the pandemic

People in Herefordshire have spent more than £845,000 using cards aimed at encouraging local shopping.

The county council offered households a free Shop Local card, giving each one £25 to spend in stores in the area.

Nearly 60,000 out of 90,000 eligible households applied for the scheme which used Covid recovery fund money.

The cards have been used at more than 1,850 businesses but cannot be redeemed after the end of March.

The Shop Local project was designed to help local producers and retailers and saw households initially get £15 which was then topped up to £25 earlier in March.

The project was hailed as a "significant success" for Herefordshire by the council which said the funding had no link to council tax.

Finance councillor Liz Harvey said there had been "broad support" for the cards by businesses.

Steph Sparks, owner of plant nursery Lov Leaf in Hereford, said the scheme had been a boost for her.

"Especially January, February, it is a really tough start to the year to get people out of their houses so it was really great timing, to get us through those really quiet weeks," she said.