Ards and North Down Borough Council has been awarded funding by the Department for Communities. The funding is set to help customer-facing businesses adjust their properties; in order to meet the government guidelines, set out due to Covid 19.
A grant of £1,000 (maximum) is available to any active and customer-facing businesses within the town centres, rural villages, and small settlements of the Borough council. Town Centre – businesses must be located within the boundary of the following town centres; Bangor, Comber, Donaghadee, Holywood and Newtownards. Rural villages and small settlements – businesses must be located within the 30mph zone.
The closing date for the grant is Friday 30th October 2020 at 12 noon.
Applications must be able to demonstrate that capital items will assist a business to continue to operate and ensure the health and safety of your employees and customers in response to the current impact and recovery of Covid-19.
Examples of eligible items:
- Access improvements/ amendments (i.e. motion sensor doors, queuing adaptations, etc);
- Internal adaptations (i.e. relocation of existing fixtures etc);
- Exterior shelter (i.e. awning, canopy, etc);
- Signage (i.e. wall signage, free-standing signage, stencils, etc);
- Health and Safety provisions (i.e. sanitiser stations/units, protective screens, barriers, etc);
- Outdoor provisions (i.e. tables, seating, benches etc);
- Decorative and maintenance improvements (painting, power-washing, repairs of decorative features).
This list is not exhaustive and can include any other capital works/items that can be demonstrated as an adjustment and/or improvement as a result of Covid-19.
The grant will not fund costs such as:
- Statutory application fees;
- Consultancy fees;
- Professional fees (e.g. solicitor/ surveyor/architect);
- Insurances;
- Retrospective expenditure where works/items have already been obtained and paid for prior to a Letter of Offer;
- Consumable items such as masks/gloves/sanitiser refill etc; or
- VAT
Completed applications to be sent to:
- Urban (Town Centres) carly.mcmullan@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
- Rural (Villages and Small Settlements) beverley.skillen@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
If you need advice just email the Ross Boyd Chartered Accountants team on info@rossboyd.co.uk or call us on 02895 320155.