Agenda item

Joint report of the Town Clerk, Chamberlain, Director of innovation & Growth, and City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Chamberlain in respect of the launch of the Covid-19 Business Recovery Fund.

A number of queries or observations were raised and responded to during debate:

·           It was advised that, in keeping with the Corporation’s aspirations in respect of Climate Action, it would be possible to incorporate an offer to grant recipients to join the Heart of the City’s “net zero” pilot scheme, thereby providing synergies with the Climate Action Strategy.

·           Similarly, information would also be provided to applicants in relation to electoral registration, in line with discussion under the previous item.

·           With reference to the funding of professional fees associating with administering the grants scheme, it was confirmed that these would need to be met from the total £50m envelope allocated by the Court; however, as alluded to in the report, it was now anticipated that Government would be producing additional funds to Local Authorities to help businesses, so the overall pot available for distribution should now exceed £50m.

·           In response to concerns as to the pace of fund allocation, it was observed that the Fund had been established at significant pace and designed explicitly to facilitate efficient and swift distribution, so there was real confidence deadlines would be met.

·           Following a specific query relating to the qualifying dates for applications and the cut-off date being 20 March, it was agreed that the qualifying criteria should be revised to also allow for those who had committed to leases by that date but were not yet necessarily in occupation.

·           A Member also queried the rationale behind the 11 June closing date for applications, noting that many businesses might not wish to reopen until 21 June when restrictions were eased and footfall was expected to be significantly increased. It was clarified that a specified end-date was needed so as to provide businesses with a clear target date for action, as well as to allow for an understanding of the volume of likely applications so as to inform fund deployment. However, that was not to say that the end date could not be extended at a later point, should Members so determine.

RESOLVED: That:-

1.   The Scheme detailed at Appendix 1 to the report be approved, subject to an amendment to the qualifying criteria to make eligible those who had committed to leases by 20 March but were not yet necessarily in occupation.

2.  The latest tranche of HM Government funding for Additional Restriction Grant (ARG) be allocated in the same manner as the City Corporation’s own funding.

3.   The scheme be launched on 12 April 2021, with applications closing on 11 June 2021, noting that grants will be awarded on a first come, first served basis and, if the funding available is exhausted, then the scheme will close at that point.

4. The charging of professional fees for viability assessments and the application portal to the £50m COVID-19 Business Recovery Fund (funded by City’s Cash) be approved.