Council to receive £8m in grant funding to help North Norfolk businesses

Date published: 7th January 2022

North Norfolk District Council can confirm it is set to receive £8,070,885 from the Government as part of a national £1billion support package for businesses most affected by measures implemented to counter the Omicron variant of Covid.

The figure is the largest single allocation to a Norfolk authority and is based on the high number of businesses in North Norfolk (3,539) operating in the hospitality and leisure sector, who continue to be hit hard by the economic impacts of Covid.

The Council hopes to announce further specifics concerning how it will allocate the funds next week once the Government confirms more details as to which businesses qualify, but Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth Cllr Richard Kershaw welcomed today’s news confirming the sum to be made available to directly assist businesses in our district.

He commented:

“It’s good news that the Government is taking action to support the businesses which have been critically affected by the impact of Covid and the measures taken to date to counter the spread of the virus.

“The figure of £8.07m represents around 80 per cent of the £9.9m Covid-related impact we have identified in North Norfolk and while the sum allocated is very welcome, depending on how the next phase of the virus pans out in the months ahead, we will need to keep assessing the situation to see if we need to ask for more.

NNDC is also set to receive £178,267 in discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) top-up funding for other businesses affected by Omicron, for example venues, sole traders, wedding support companies and others.