Published Wednesday 12 August 2020 at 10:26
Blackburn with Darwen Council is lobbying the government for more funding to help tackle the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Mohammed Khan, and chief executive Denise Park have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and to Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to request more help in dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak.
The financial impact of Covid-19 has hit the borough’s businesses, including the recent new restrictions which have been placed on the borough in response to a rise in cases.
This has meant that businesses planning to open on August 1st were not able to, and we know this has caused frustration and disappointment after weeks and months of planning and preparing.
Work is ongoing across the Council to try to support and help all our businesses as much as possible and more funding from the government is needed as the further restrictions carry on.
The Council has regularly asked government for assurances that more support will be made available not only to the Council, but to businesses affected by the pandemic and the most recent changes and restrictions.
Councillor Mohammed Khan, leader of the Council, said:
We know how frustrated businesses that were due to open are. We share their frustrations and we will continue lobbying government for extra funding to support those businesses who have had to remained closed in the borough.
Councillor Khan, in the letter to Robert Jenrick, said:
The funding you are making available will continue to leave the Council in financial difficulties and unable to deliver the promises you are making to the public and business now and in the future as we turn to recovery.
Blackburn with Darwen Council is directly supporting all of our businesses, communities and residents, particularly those most vulnerable and shielded. We are working extremely hard to put in place all of the new measures and guidance that you are expecting us to. We have responded quickly and successfully, testament to the fantastic workforce within local government.
We are continually adapting our services and taking on new roles at this unprecedented time. All of this comes at a significant cost to us and these continue to escalate. As a unitary authority, we are responsible for the full range of local government services and whilst we are thankful for the funding government has provided to assist in our response to the pandemic, this £10mill will fall significantly short of the actual costs.
Among the extra services from the Council during the pandemic are:
- The Help Hub, set up to respond to the most vulnerable during the pandemic, has received 3,700 calls for help and posted to 58,000 homes in the borough with information about the Hub as well as refuse/recycling advice.
- Almost 7500 food parcels have been delivered to vulnerable residents who would otherwise have no support, and we continue to deliver food parcels each week.
- The Council has supported over 3,000 businesses and paid over £40m in business grants and in additional discretionary grants to smaller businesses.
To date, Government have announced three forms of emergency COVID-19 grant funding to Local Government amounting to £3.7 billion overall, which meant that Blackburn with Darwen received £10.931mill.
The Council was also awarded £2.2 million from the £500 million Hardship Grant funding to provide further Council Tax relief for vulnerable residents and we have also claimed £0.016 million for costs from the £3.2 million fund to support housing rough sleepers.
Other funding includes:
- Business Rate Relief, of which BwD has received £16.3 million;
- Business Rate Grant support for Small Businesses as well as the Leisure, Hospitality and Leisure sectors, of which the BwD allocation is £46.4 million;
- Support to those businesses with ongoing premises costs but who have not met the criteria to qualify for funding through the Government’s Business Rates Grants – this is a Discretionary Scheme and each individual council is required to establish their own, individual scheme – of this BwD has received £2.2 million, and finally,
- Care Home Infection Control funding of which BwD has been allocated £1.4 million
Further funding available to BwD has included;
- £0.131 million of the £50 million fund to support the re-opening of High Streets safely, this grant will be claimed from Government, in arrears, based on actual expenditure incurred
- £0.385 million through the £225 million emergency active travel fund, comprising both revenue and capital funding.
- £1.4 million of the £300 million additional funding for local authorities to support the new Test and Trace service.
The COVID-19 Financial Management Return that was submitted to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in June indicated a forecasted financial gap for 2020/21 of £19.5 million.
The Council currently has £15.5m in reserves.