More than 260 businesses in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, which are involved in the night time economy, events, aerospace, travel, cultural and international visitor sectors, are to receive discretionary grant funding from BCP Council.

All those that applied for this scheme will be contacted on the outcome of their application and grant award from today, Friday 19 February. Businesses should then begin to receive grants in their nominated accounts over the next few days. In some cases, there are businesses which will be required to provide more information before grants are issued. The funding allocation for each sector reflects the number of applications that were received, and various grant levels awarded. They will be approximately:

Events sector – £370,000; nightclubs – £200,000; travel industry– £165,000; cultural services –£153,000; international visitor services – £125,000 and aerospace industry – £53,000

Cllr Philip Broadhead, deputy leader and portfolio holder for Economy at BCP Council, said, “At the end of last year, we were quick to engage with our business community and assess those areas of our economy which were most in need of our help and support. The sectors which we have identified have been some the hardest hit, employ over 18,000 people in Bournemouth alone and support many other sectors which rely on the trade they generate for our three towns.

“I also acknowledge the many challenges facing businesses of all sizes and sectors. We will continue to do everything that we can to support them over the coming months. This will include a third stream of longer-term discretionary support to help businesses safely reopen and recover. We are in the final stages for developing this stream and we will provide more information as soon as we can.”