Agenda item - Discretionary Business Rates Grant

Agenda item

Discretionary Business Rates Grant

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling, the Executive Director, Finance and Resources and the Financial Support Manager to the meeting.

 

The Executive Director, Finance and Resources summarised the report and in particularly noted the following:

 

  • Government initiated this scheme as they recognised that some business were not able to access initial funding.
  • The policy to be presented to Overview and Scrutiny, and Cabinet was a Full Council decision which would be made by Urgent Decision due to the tight timescale put in place by Central Government.
  • The funding was based on three eligibility criteria and priority of businesses outlined in Government guidelines.
  • The funding was limited to £1,013,500.

 

At this point in the meeting Councillors S. Baxter and J. Till declared an interest in regards to this item. Councillor S. Baxter declared a pecuniary interest due to being a Trustee at a charitable organisation. Councillor J. Till declared a pecuniary interest due to her Council Outside Bodies appointment at the Citizens Advice Bureau. It was decided that Councillor S. Baxter and Councillor J. Till would not need to be exempt from the discussion.

 

The Financial Support Manager presented the policy to the Board and noted that the Government had prescribed some criteria for the allocation of the grant which was included in the policy. Other than that, the Council had broad discretion to develop the scheme itself. Applications would be assessed in priority order as outlined by Government guidelines. The Council scheme would be advertised on social media channels, websites and through Members.

 

The following was also noted:

 

  • The anticipated opening of the scheme would be early June 2020 for 14 days.
  • If there were any funds that had not been allocated at the end of that period, then the scheme would be reopened.

 

Members queried with officers whether any businesses that had been awarded any previous small business grants were also entitled to apply for the Discretionary Business Rates Grant. It was confirmed by the Financial Support Manager that if a business had received funding from the Supporting Small Business Fund or the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure funding they were not entitled to apply. It was clarified further that this was a directive from Government and not a Council decision. This would enable the businesses that missed out on the first round of funding to perhaps receive some sort of award through this fund.

 

Members discussed the market traders element of the policy and were keen to clarify the proportionality of the funding and that would be awarded to a ‘one day a week regular’ trader at Bromsgrove Market compared to one who was a ‘three day a week regular’ trader.

 

There was a detailed discussion regarding the criteria used in the policy around market traders including the fixed market costs, market rental agreements and licenses and the regularity of trading and the number of pitches occupied. Officers confirmed that as the market was operated by the Council, the Market Manager had been consulted about this part of the policy.

 

Members queried the timeline of applications and how the funding round would operate. Officers explained that there would only be one funding round and applications would be assessed in priority order. If after that funding round there were still funds available the funding round would be re-opened.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling thanked the Executive Director Finance and Resources and the team for their hard work on a complex scheme.

 

It was agreed that there would be a recommendation made by the Board that reflected funding be awarded based on the proportion of days of trading at the market.

 

RECOMMENDED that in respect of the market traders the grant be paid based on days of trading and be irrespective of number of pitches occupied.

 

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