Tories fury at delay to business help

Funding guidelines being‘drip-fed’by government

Conservative councillors have described the delays in giving financial support to Perth and Kinross businesses as”appalling.”

Cllr Roz McCall is calling for additional information to be made available from the Scottish Government “as a matter of urgency”.

And Cllr Angus Forbes said the delays highlighted in the Conservative-led council’s report were “hampering our efforts to help businesses”.

The concerns were raised at a virtual meeting of Perth and Kinross Council on Wednesday, January 27.

To date, Perth and Kinross Council has paid out £48.5 million of government funding to help over 4000 Perth and Kinross businesses during the pandemic.

But it emerged during Wednesday’s meeting the council had faced delays issuing some funding as guidelines are “dripfed” from the Scottish Government to Perth and Kinross Council.

During the meeting, a council officer told councillors he met with other COSLA members every day and they sent an issues log to the Scottish Government on a daily basis.

He said the question of when they were going to get clarity on all the various schemes was being asked on almost a daily basis.

He told councillors: “The information is being drip-fed back to us if you like.”

He said they were still awaiting clarity on the self-catering and bed and breakfast funds which they hoped to get within the next few days.

He was responding to questioning from Conservative councillor Roz McCall - PKC’s business ambassador.

She praised PKC officers for the work they have done to help local businesses then added: “This is an appalling situation.

“There are businesses that are literally just running out of cash cash that is there for them just being held up by petty bureaucracy.

“Some businesses have closed their doors meaning families are looking at tough financial decisions and the increased stresses of their money worries obviously puts a strain on their mental health.”

Cllr Forbes told the committee he recently had a business owner phone him in tears and who has since had to close her business.

He said the Scottish Government announced funding to help businesses like hers last year but was still to set the criteria.

The Carse of Gowrie councillor said it seemed to him like “an unmitigated disaster” with “delay after delay which will cause businesses to go under.”

He said while Nicola Sturgeon could not be blamed for the pandemic, he did “blame her and her government for this”.

He said:“They have built a tide of expectation amongst our business community for positive press lines and they have failed to deliver on it.”

He added: “Businesses are going under. Families are losing their income.

“Livelihoods are being lost and our economy’s falling apart.

“The most galling thing is that in the middle of all of this the one thing the nationalists do is announce yet another 11-point plan for a referendum.

“Provost, it disgusts me.”

SNP councillor Stewart Donaldson responded: “I think that was maybe from Cllr Forbes fairly predictable.”

He said there were still “a number of variables still to consider” on the council’s revenue budget.

The Strathearn councillor said there may be further updates on the various targeted schemes and added: “I certainly don’t view it as an unmitigated disaster. I think we’ve got to hear from the UK Government on the budget on March 3.

“But I do pay tribute to - in particular - the finance team because we seem to have now effectively closed on the gap on funding for the current year.”