Council thanked by local businesses after £18 million worth of COVID grants distributed since April

Councillor Nick Worth, deputy leader and portfolio holder for growth and commercialisation, said: “Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, teams from across the Council have been working flat out to ensure local businesses received grant funding as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“We used every avenue to find those within the district who may be entitled to funding, aiming to help as many eligible businesses as we could. The £18.4 million we distributed through various Government grant schemes went directly into our local economy to support businesses against the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and aiding their recovery.

“Whilst we weren’t able to help every business across the District, the demand for funding far outweighed what was available to us from central Government. The fact the Council wrote to the Government asking for flexibility in how grant funding could be spent demonstrates our commitment to supporting our local economy as much as we can.”

Following successful grant applications, several businesses have agreed to share their comments on the process and the benefits of receiving the funding (whilst remaining anonymous):

“Hearing from you a few weeks ago was probably the best news we received this year. Not only did the grant help us come out of the overdraft but it covered all the insurances we had to pay in August and outstanding invoices that we accumulated over the last 3 months.

“The grant was more used to keep us a float and the business alive. The winter crop is looking good and even though the grant money is less now after covering the factors above we have put aside funds to cover labour costs for when the crop is ready to be harvested in November.”