North East businesses welcome council grant 'U-turn'

Rachel Douglas from the LA7 Excluded group said they were "over the moon"

North East businesses excluded from financial relief during the pandemic have said they are "over the moon" after several apparent council U-turns.

Seven councils had said they could not afford to give Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) to home-based firms which did not have fixed property costs.

The LA7 Excluded campaign group, which includes driving instructors and cleaners, complained this was "unfair".

It has now been told some funds will be open to many earlier deemed ineligible.

Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, and County Durham councils had told campaigners they had not been given enough government funding to help.

'Struck a chord'

But Janice Gillespie, North Tyneside Council's head of resources, has now said that "each authority is looking to implement a new fund where they have ARG available to do so" - although, while Sunderland and Northumberland have since revealed details of their offers, Newcastle has confirmed it will not be setting up such a fund.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service quoted Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes as saying "we can't give out money we don't have".

Ms Gillespie said that the other schemes "will be announced locally over the next couple of weeks".

However, she warned that the amount of ARG money still available to the different councils will "vary as a reflection of the schemes already implemented and variations in business density across the region".

The LA7 Excluded group said it was seeking clarity on the claims that each authority would seek to open a fund to help the excluded firms, following Newcastle's refusal.

One of its leaders, Rachel Douglas, said: "We are over the moon ... they had said publicly that they did not have the money to give us, but now they have.

"Clearly what we have been saying has struck a chord and hopefully we can now get the financial aid we need."