Issue - meetings

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director – Enterprise, Community and Resources, which set out how the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund (LADGF) provided by central Government had gone some way to support local businesses.

It was noted that the impact of the Coronavirus was being felt in communities in many different ways and Halton’s businesses had been severely affected with many losing several months of trade and some were still not fully operational. 

It was reported that during lockdown, the Business Improvement and Growth Team collated all current Government advice to businesses into a single resource for use by Council colleagues and developed dedicated resource packs for specific target groups, for example the self-employed.  With regards to the LADGF, this was designed, administered and delivered by the Council and targeted businesses that were not able to access previous grant schemes.  The criteria for accessing the scheme was discussed in the report together with Halton’s focussed schemes for eligibility.

The report provided the Board with details of numbers of applications and grants awarded and examples of feedback submitted from businesses.

RESOLVED:  That the report and comments made be noted.