Devon County Council are encouraging people to shop local, by announcing a list of local festive gifts this holiday season.

The council’s new scheme, Made in Devon, is a way of helping businesses and consumers to buy local and support local.

The scheme encourages people to shop from local businesses instead of branching further afield.

The council say: “Any business that is based in Devon, has been operating for more than six months and takes pride in buying from and supporting other Devon businesses can apply to join.”The Made in Devon website has both a Find a Local Business page and a Love to Shop Local page, which ensures that consumers are purchasing from trustworthy Devon companies. The scheme is a means of helping people to support local, legal and honest Devon businesses that have the Trading Standards stamp of approval.

The businesses that are a member of Made in Devon are also assessed on their commitment to sustainability, how they contribute to their local communities and their specialist skills.

Devon County Council are funding the scheme, which means that 125 Devon-based businesses can join the scheme for free each year until March 2023.

They say: “This provides the business with a free audit by Trading Standards and free membership of the scheme for their first year where they can be part of many exciting promotional opportunities.

“After the first year, businesses just pay the annual fee which starts at less than £22 per month… For this they can get access to free trading standards advice which normally costs £85 per hour. They also continue to be part of major promotional campaigns that reach thousands of people every month.”

The Case for Local Food Report 2021 showed ‘A shift of 10% of retail market share for sustainable, local food businesses could create an additional 200,000 jobs, support a green economic recovery and restore nature’, which shows just how valuable this scheme is to the local community.

The council added: “Buying from locally owned, independent businesses benefits our communities, the economy, and the environment. The vision for Made in Devon is to bring long-term, sustainable prosperity to the region. This will be done by encouraging sales and consumption of Devon products & services, supporting local businesses and establishing Devon as a source of quality local products and services.”

This scheme should help many local businesses as the cost-of-living crisis affects households and businesses across the South Hams. Recently, Salcombe has seen the closure of The Old Factory Shop (TOFS) and their little Joules store, so this scheme will act as a comfort to many local businesses, suggesting that the council are working to ensure they stay afloat and encouraging people to shop locally for last minute Christmas gifts.