Trafford Council has handed out more than £2.3 million pounds to hundreds of struggling small businesses in the borough as part of its Discretionary Business Grant Scheme.
The scheme was aimed at small businesses that were not been able to access other grant programmes to help keep them afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Council has given grants to 252 businesses totalling £2,375,663 under the Discretionary Business Grant Scheme which was launched soon after the pandemic struck in March.
In addition, the Council has also paid a total of more than £45 million to local businesses via the Small Business Grant; Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Grant and Discretionary Business Grant schemes.
The Discretionary Business Grant Scheme for Trafford was devised to support as many eligible businesses in the borough as possible, and a team was quickly pulled together to focus on promoting, managing and delivering it in a co-ordinated and effective way.
Cllr Tom Ross, Trafford Council’s Executive member for Finance and Investment, said:
”This is fantastic news and I am absolutely delighted that small businesses across Trafford have been able to take advantage of this extra funding.
These are very awful times and we need to support our businesses as much as possible. On behalf of the Council, I would like to congratulate the team who delivered the scheme, led by our Strategic Growth Officers in partnership with Finance and Business Rates colleagues, who pulled out all the stops to make sure as many businesses as possible received their grants before the scheme ended at the end of September. They’re a credit to the Council and exemplify our EPIC values.
We are doing everything possible to ensure that businesses can continue to operate safely. With Trafford and Greater Manchester facing further possible sanctions, I am urging Central Government to provide as much financial support as possible as we battle through these very difficult times.”
Posted on Monday 19th October 2020