Posted on 19th Jan
Newark and Sherwood District Council has today launched a third round of its High Street Diversification Fund Grant, following the success of the first round and second round in October and December.
These grants are local to Newark and Sherwood and are not part of national payments. They have been designed to support retailers to generate online sales and orders, both during the pandemic and also to help prepare them for recovery and growth in the future.
The first round was offered to part-fund businesses to develop an online sales presence. It was so successful, and over-subscribed, that further funds were allocated. This new grant provides funding for local, independent high-street based retail/hospitality businesses to invest in sponsored social media advertising.
Both the first round and second round received nearly 120 successful applications from local businesses and Newark and Sherwood District Council is once again inviting any businesses, even if they applied for previous rounds, to apply for a grant of a max £125, which must be match funded.
Applications will be open for two weeks from Tuesday 19 January until 5pm on Thursday 28 January 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 advertising is used between February and April 2021. To receive the payment businesses must simply email copies of all invoices to economic.growth@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk by 5pm on May 31 2021.
Tony Mills, owner of Vinyl Attraction in Stodman Street, said: “We recently applied for the previous grant to help with our Vinyl Attraction website. We were suddenly thrown into lockdown for November and ‘Black Friday’ had to go online.
“The £250 from the grant enabled us to have a ‘Black Friday Sale Page’ on our website. As we normally do these things face to face; to have a dedicated page for the sale day was invaluable. Without the grant we wouldn’t have had any sales for Black Friday.”
Councillor David Lloyd, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “We were extremely pleased with the huge response we had in both October and December last year and we’re thrilled to once again offer the grant for a third time.
“The coronavirus pandemic and the new lockdown has made it vital for businesses to have an online social media presence. Before the pandemic more than 18% of retail sales were made online and it is probable that more and more people will buy online in future. These funds are to help our high street businesses during these difficult times but also hopefully help them to grow their sales during the inevitable economic recovery ahead. 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 here: http://ow.ly/dIOt50Dc8oz
