Peterborough businesses hit by COVID closures can apply for grants

A range of businesses will be eligible for the grants, to help them survive the restrictions which have been put in place to stop the virus spreading.

Eligible businesses include:

All non-essential retail - including, but not limited to clothing and electronics stores, vehicle showrooms, travel agents, betting shops, auction houses, tailors, car washes, tobacco and vape shops; Indoor and outdoor leisure facilities - such as bowling alleys, leisure centres and gyms, sports facilities including swimming pools, golf courses and driving ranges, dance studios, stables and riding centres, soft play facilities, climbing walls and climbing centres, archery and shooting ranges, water and theme parks; Entertainment venues - such as theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, adult gaming centres and arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys, concert halls, zoos and other animal attractions, botanical gardens and Personal care facilities - such as hair, beauty and nail salons, tattoo parlours, spas, massage parlours, body and skin piercing services, non-medical acupuncture, and tanning salons.

Grants will be awarded as follows:

Properties with a rateable value of £15k or under - Grants to be £1,334 per month.

Properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k - Grants to be £2,000 per month.

Properties with a rateable value of £51k or over - Grants to be £3,000 per month.

To qualify for this grant, your business must be in the Peterborough City Council area and has been:

Open as usual before the national lockdown restrictions.

Primarily providing ‘in person’ services to customers from the premises.

Required to close due to local lockdown restrictions imposed by government.

Registered for business rates for at the premises as at 4 November 2020.

Businesses will not be eligible for a grant if: It is able to continue to trade because it does not depend on providing direct, in-person services from the premises and can operate its services effectively remotely (e.g. accountants and solicitors are excluded from this grant scheme); You have chosen to close but have not been instructed to; Your business is in administration, insolvent or subject to a striking-off notice;

The application is subject to change if the national guidance, when published, necessitates a revision.

To apply for the Local Restrictions Support Grant for businesses required to close under the national lockdown, the council will ask you to complete an online form, which will be made available on Peterborough City Council’s website in the next few days.

Councillor David Seaton, cabinet member for finance at Peterborough City Council, said: “In the last round in the spring we paid out £32.2 million to 2,654 business properties flagged as qualifying for help by 31 May, one of the highest proportions of any council in England.

“We remain committed to supporting businesses in Peterborough through the worst of the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, with the Government's help.”

Business grants in Cambridgeshire are handled by Cambridge City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, Fenland District Council and Huntingdonshire District Council and you can see details about this on their websites.