The Head of Regeneration and
Economic Development introduced the report outlining the grants
that had been made available to support businesses since March
2020. A team was set up across the Council to facilitate the
administration of the support grants, and delegated authority was
used to introduce the discretionary streams of the grants to enable
them to be distributed promptly.
The Additional Restrictions
Grant (ARG) totalled £3.4 million to fund discretionary
business grants and wider business support activity and following
each round of discretionary grants, intelligence was collected from
local businesses which then informed the categories included in
subsequent rounds. Over 7,000 grants had been awarded since March
2020, and new mandatory grants were expected in April 2021. The ARG
would continue to be distributed and further opportunities to
benefit from additional grant allocations was expected.
Positive feedback from local
businesses was noted, and the responsiveness of the
cross-departmental team was acknowledged.
RESOLVED: That the progress in the administration of business support
grants be noted, and the Committee express their thanks to the staff involved in the provision
of the business grants.