Small businesses get £50,000 investment
Two hundred businesses across the borough are being supported to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to a £50,000 investment by Scarborough Borough Council.
They have been given free membership of the Federation of Small Businesses, providing them with access to a range of support services.
These include legal help and advice about cyber protection, to assistance with accessing funding opportunities, seen as vital as firms recover from three months of lockdown.
The council announced in April that it would fund up to 300 Federation memberships to help the self-employed, micro and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
Between them, the 200 businesses that have taken up the offer so far employ 700 staff, a value of almost £18 million to the local economy.
More than three-quarters of the firms have four or fewer employees.
Cllr Liz Colling, Scarborough Council Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, said: “In the early days of the pandemic it became very clear that the smallest firms in the borough would not get all the support they required from government.
“We knew we needed to be at the forefront of finding different ways to help them at a local level, so we worked with the Federation of Small Businesses to develop the free membership offer.
“Our economy is made up of many firms with only a handful of members of staff.
“I would encourage any business owner that hasn’t yet applied for membership to contact the Federation very soon while the opportunity is still available.”
Free memberships are still available and interested business owners should email nick.bradley@fsb.org.uk adding the words ‘Scarborough Borough’ to the subject field of their email.
An agreement has been l struck by Scarborough Council to provide 46 units of temporary accommodation for homeless people in the borough following an “unprecedented” spike in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The borough council’s cabinet approved the signing of an agreement with the York Housing Association for the properties.
The deal is described by the authority as a “refresh” of its homeless provision to bring five existing contracts into one.
The five-year deal includes an existing agreement to pay York Housing Association a revenue grant of £56,000 a year toward the management costs associated with the provision of services at Kealia Court in Wooler Street, Scarborough.
Cabinet member for stronger communities and housing Cllr Carl Maw told the meeting that there had been an increase in homelessness and rough sleeping due to the pandemic.
Council figures show that at the end of April, 100 households were in temporary accommodation compared to the previous year when there was 55.