Published: Friday, 30th April 2021
A half-million-pound grant scheme opened on 30 April.
The grant is available to help local independent businesses to support the safe reopening of premises that might otherwise struggle to comply with necessary government guidance brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Refresh and Reopen grant scheme has been developed by the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, using the government's Additional Restrictions funding.
The grants will provide up 75% of eligible costs towards work to premises such as outdoor structures or equipment, barriers or one-way set ups, umbrellas or other temporary weather-shielding structure. It could also help fund online solutions such as ticketing, ordering or payment. This fund can also be used towards shop front improvements to make the premises feel more welcoming to local people and visitors. Any spend incurred must have taken place since the announcement of the Governments Roadmap on 22 February.
The maximum grant available per applicant is £10,000 and applicants must not have previously claimed a grant for the same re-opening activities. Grants will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and the scheme will close once all the money has been allocated or on 30 May, whichever is sooner. All grant funding must be fully spent and works completed by 1 August 2021.
Eligible businesses must be in the borough of west Norfolk, operate in the retail, hospitality, recreation, leisure, culture, tourism or events sectors and must be local, independent businesses, not part of a chain.
Applications should be made by visiting west-norfolk.gov.uk/refreshandreopengrant, where full details of the scheme and eligibility can be found.
Applications are now closed.
In addition to the Refresh and Reopen grants, the council has been paying out restart grants automatically to businesses that are eligible and no further information is required. A total of 1,118 grants have been paid so far totalling £9,716.673. This is in addition to over £62m pounds worth of other business support grants already paid. If further information is needed from businesses to check their eligibility for the restart grants, they will be contacted by the council.
Further online support is available through the Go Digital scheme which offers a grant of £500 to successful applicants who will be assigned an experienced business advisor to conduct a ‘digital audit’ and provide a comprehensive report to identify digital opportunities. The advisor will help the business put together an action plan and then businesses will have the opportunity to apply use the £500 grant to help them deliver projects using this plan.
The deadline for applications for this round of Go Digital support is 30 June 2021. Businesses can find out more and apply on the Norfolk County Council website at www.norfolk.gov.uk/GoDigital.