Hot TOPICS 
Business Grant Sting in the Tail
(June 10, 2020)Many small businesses in Warminster have waited up to three months since the government forced them to close for help to deal with the financial disaster that has hit them.
Wiltshire Council has launched its local Discretionary Grant scheme after receiving over £5.1 million of additional Government funding to support small businesses.
Local businesses that can show the rates that they pay are below £51,000 rates to the council and have suffered badly because of the lockdown can apply for a £5,000 grant if they are still paying the bills to keep where they run their enterprise available to re-open.
“This means that just 1020 businesses can be helped across the whole county,” said former town councillor Paul Macdonald.
“There are dozens upon of businesses in Warminster that can show that they have suffered a significant fall in income.
“But there is a sting in the tail. No hope here for our high street shops,” warns Paul
It is restricted in a complicated way to a handful of small firms.
Only small businesses in shared offices or workspaces which do not have their own business rates assessment, market traders with rent to pay on storage space, bed and breakfasts which pay council tax not business rates and charity shops which get special rates relief.
“We are pleased to be launching this additional scheme to help more small businesses in the county access much-needed financial support,” said Conservative Wiltshire Councillor leader Philip Whitehead.
"We are continuing to feed back to Government that more funding is required to support Wiltshire's businesses and local economy especially as businesses start to think about re-opening in the very near future."
There is a two week deadline to apply for the £5,000 grant which began on Monday this week.