Newark and Sherwood District Council has today launched a second round of its £25k High Street Diversification Fund Grant, following the success of the first round in October.

The grant provides funding for local, independent high-street based retail/hospitality businesses to invest in e-commerce.

The first round received 98 successful applications from local businesses and Newark and Sherwood District Council is once again inviting businesses who did not apply the first time around to apply for a grant of £250, which must be match funded.

Applications will be open for two weeks from 9am on Wednesday 9 December to 5pm on Wednesday 23 December and will be based on a first come, first served basis.

Successful applications will receive a grant reference number and businesses will be responsible for ensuring the work will be undertaken and is completed by 31 January 2021. Following completion of the work, to receive the £250 grant, copies of all invoices must be sent to Newark and Sherwood District Council quoting the grant reference number provided.

Richard Carnill, director of Carnill and Company, an interior design business with a lifestyle store and design studio located in Southwell, was one of many successful businesses that applied for a £250 grant in October.

He said: “I was very pleased to receive a grant from the High Street Diversification Fund and have used it to pay for SEO optimisation – something that I had intended to do myself but never had the time to do running the retail and interior design side of the business. It also allowed my website designer to spend a couple of hours updating and refreshing some of the existing pages. Thank you Newark and Sherwood District Council!”

Coun David Lloyd, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “We were extremely pleased with the huge response we had in October and as a result have been able to find extra funding to bring the scheme back for a second round of applications to continue to support our local and independent business.

“The coronavirus pandemic has evidenced how important having a strong online presence is and I encourage all eligible business owners to apply as soon as possible. The application form is simple to complete and will only take a few minutes of your time to apply.”

Applications should be made on the Newark and Sherwood District Council website, using the online form.

If awarded to a qualifying business, the money can be used for:

Creating a new website
Developing an existing website
Creating (a) transactional capability
Initiating a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) site check-up
Integrating social media channels onto the business website
Training to either create a DIY website or improve skills and knowledge.
To qualify, a business must trade within the Newark and Sherwood District Council boundary and be an independently owned, high-street retail or hospitality business.

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