RESOLVED:

1.         That the Additional Restrictions Grant Policy for Phase two be agreed.

2.         That the Expanded Retail Relief Policy for 2021/22 (1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021) be agreed and authority to agree any future Section 47 business rates discretionary policies be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance.

At the invitation of the Chair, Bryan Raven, Managing Director of White Light Ltd, a local business in the borough, addressed the Cabinet on the difficulties faced by his business in the pandemic.  He welcomed the support already received from the Council however was disappointed to not meet the criteria for the second phase and asked the Cabinet to make the proposed grant available to all businesses in the borough.

The Chair thanked Mr Raven for his contributions.

The Cabinet Member for Finance also thanked Mr Raven for his contributions and acknowledged the difficulties he and other businesses had experienced throughout the pandemic.  He thanked the officers for their work on distributing the grants in phase one and presented the report which set out proposals for phase two.  It was noted that there were insufficient funds to support all businesses in the borough and therefore it was felt that the grants should be focussed on those businesses where it could have the most impact.  There would be two funding streams in phase two and it would be possible to redirect funding from one stream into the other if required to ensure all the money was allocated.

The Joint Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Performance, Recovery and the Local Economy added that it had been a difficult policy to draft and the focus had been to keep people in jobs to aid the economic recovery following the pandemic with a limited sum of money by focussing on small and micro business and those businesses employing Merton residents.

The Head of Revenues and Benefits advised that there could be further funding from the Government available if the Council could evidence that it had allocated the funding from the second phase by the end of June 2021. 

The Chair welcomed this further announcement although noted that it would still be insufficient to support all businesses in the borough and it was

RESOLVED:

1.         That the Additional Restrictions Grant Policy for Phase two be agreed.

2.         That the Expanded Retail Relief Policy for 2021/22 (1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021) be agreed and authority to agree any future Section 47 business rates discretionary policies be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance.