● Racetrack boss hits out over grants closure
THE furious boss of an attraction on Anglesey says he has been left high and dry by the sudden closure of the Welsh Government’s £100m business grants fund.
Martin Williams, who runs the Cartio Mon go kart attraction at Bodedern, was putting the finishing touches to his application when the shutters came down on Thursday.
The latest tranche of the Economic Resilience Fund (ERF) was launched on Wednesday y afternoon but it closed a little e over 24 hours later.
Potentially, the application window was to have stayed open until November 25 but it shut early after being “fully subscribed”.
In that time 5,500 applications had been submitted by firms across Wales, reflecting the massive e demand for Covid support.
Cartio Mon’s racetrack and function room, which last year turned over £150,000, have been closed since the start of the March lockdown due to social distancing guidelines. Mr Williams previously secured a Bounce Back loan and he was hoping for further support to see the business through the winter. Now his plans have been left in disarray. “I can’t get through to Business Wales to find out what’s going on,” he fumed. “There’s a complete lack of information. The application process requires two quotes for work required and I was in the process pr of getting the secon second when the website shu shut down. I’m ab absolutely furious.” This summer Mr Williams opened a new caravan park on the site, which has since s generated £20,000 £2 in turnover. He had ha hoped to keep this open for as long as possibl possible to ensure the business was generating some cash. One intended use of ERF money was to install a vending machine in the caravan park cafe selling local produce. “This would have provided a Covid-secure environment by enabling us to avoid face-to-face contact with visitors,” he said.
“It would have also provided a 24-7 service to our customers.”
Like other applicants, Mr Williams found glitches in the ERF system with applications timing out.
“You have 20 minutes to complete each section,” he said. “In one section you can write up to 7,500 words in support of your application: you wouldn’t write that much in an A level exam!
“Like other small business owners I can’t afford to be at my computer all day, I have things to do. So to lose out in this way is very frustrating.”
Economy Minister Ken Skates said many businesses had been preparing bids for the latest funding round after the scheme’s eligibility checker opened. He added: “We know this is an incredibly difficult and challenging time for companies. We will work hard to get this much needed funding out of the door and into the bank accounts of businesses that need it as quickly as we can.”