Volunteers are wanted to help Ashby's town centre get back on its feet again with a 'recovery plan' after the Coronavirus lockdown.

With non-essential shops set to be allowed to re-open again on June 1, Ashby de la Zouch Town Council is keen to make that process as safe as possible.

And the council is now appealing for Town Ambassadors to make sure that businesses can welcome customers back again smoothly.

Volunteers are wanted to help out in terms of how shoppers can return to Market Street and beyond without breaking any social distancing rules.

People will be needed to manage queues and ensure that shoppers are kept at a safe distance.

But Ashby de la Zouch Town Council's town centre manager Stuart Benson admitted it was important to kick-start the local economy as soon as possible.

"We want to get a recovery plan in place for the town," Stuart told Ashby Nub News.

"A part of that is having a visual representation in the town centre so that shoppers ultimately feel safe and they have somebody they can possibly go to who can give them information if needed.

"The majority is making sure that social distancing is adhered to throughout the town centre.

"Some of it will involve the management of queue-ends, we don't want people going beyond that point as other shops have queues too.

"Maybe people can go for a wander and come back, we don't want to create a situation where social distancing becomes an issue for that reason."

"We'll look and see if there're any points where we can interact and be on the ground to manage that on our behalf.

"The Town Council is only a small team, there's no way we could physically be out there all day long when we have other duties to be getting with.

"So we'd be looking for people who can do an hour here or there and are willing to be in the street and do some of that work on our behalf."

Stuart also believes that the move will also ease the burden on an individual shop's staff to try and enforce social distancing measures while they are trying to re-open their businesses.

"We want to be shown as a pro-active council that is putting steps in to ensure people's safety and saying 'The town is open'.

"We want people to come and visit but do so in a sensible manner.

"A visual aid in the town would be great.'

After more than two months in a lockdown situation, Ashby's retailers are desperate to re-open.

And Stuart says the Town Council will do all they can to make that happen.

He added: "As much as the majority of the shops will have received a grant, that money does not last forever.

"There's still rent and suppliers to pay. They may have stock they can't sell although I know some have used online sales.

"Not everyone has that luxury. But for the moment, we'll be looking at Ashby's daytime economy.

"It's all about being positive and getting the town centre open again in a safe manner."

If you want to help, you can email Stuart at [email protected].