Innovative business projects in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are this week receiving a share of around £700,000 in the latest round of ARG (Additional Restrictions Grant) Stream 3 discretionary grant funding.

Recipients include: Bournemouth Town Centre BID – crime prevention and the creation of a Peer to Peer board to help businesses improve their in-store experience; Bournemouth Coastal BID – funding for an electric vehicle, equipped with a pressure washer and hose, which can also be used to collect food waste from local businesses for composting; Poole BID – grant to support street enhancements, LED lighting, festivals and pop up market events to make their area more welcoming to visitors; Silicon South – funding for a new business Innovation Programme to help local companies stay relevant and keep one step ahead over the next 18 months.; Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole – funding a new web and app-based support platform to address employment issue, mental health in the workplace, access to skills and learning and Christchurch Chamber of Trade and Commerce – a group research project to explore innovative and industry-leading ways to bring people back to town centres and high street and create an event filled city region.

Cllr Philip Broadhead, BCP Council deputy leader and portfolio holder for economy, said: “With our most recent grant stream, we wanted to open a competitive application process that would unearth innovative projects from across a wide section of the local business community. We believe we are the only authority in the country to take this unique approach and I am delighted to share just a few examples of the projects which we will be funding initially with the money supplied to us from government.”

In the next few weeks, individual and groups of businesses who applied for the Stream 3 Bounce Back Challenge Fund will also be notified of the outcome of their applications, with a further £2.75 million provided to deliver innovative local projects. BCP Council is also aiming to shortly distribute a further £1 million in grants through its Exceptional Circumstances Fund for businesses that have not received any grant support so far.

The authority is in the process of reviewing over 270 applications for the Bounce Back Challenge Fund and aims to contact all businesses directly in the next few weeks.