RYEDALE District Council (RDC) has paid out nearly £7m of grant aid to firms in the area through the Government’s Small Business Grant scheme.

The scheme is part of the Government’s package of support to help businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak. Through the scheme, businesses in receipt of small business rate relief, retail relief and rural rate relief can claim £10,000 in grant funding to help them to stay afloat during the lockdown period.

RDC has put a dedicated team onto administering the grants, as part of the authority’s strategy of prioritising activities to support lives and livelihoods during the COVID-19 crisis.

Cllr Keane Duncan, leader of RDC, said: “Our officers are working flat out to get Government cash out as quickly as we can. We’ve sent out more than £6.86m so far, and expect that figure to rise to £7m very soon.

“The team won’t stop until it is all out. We know how much of a difference this cash can make at this difficult time, and the council has received so many positive messages so far. We know there are people still waiting, but the team are working hard to get the money to you.”

Gemma Bicknell, owner of Topiary Tree in Malton, said: “I got the grant on the first day. Thank you to RDC for acting so quickly. That £10,000 is a matter of life and death for us. I’m now able to pay my suppliers and my rent. Whatever is left we will use to reopen as we will need to stock up the shop again.

“We will re-open. It’s just when. Most of the shops are in the same boat. I hope the positive to come out of this is that people realise we have all these amazing little businesses on our doorstep. We will need support now more than ever.”

Phillip Spurr, programme director for economic development at RDC, who leads the business team, said: “We wrote to 2,000 eligible businesses to ask them to provide us with the details we need to make the grant payment – and the response was fantastic.

“More than 1,400 of those businesses have used the form on our website to give their information. That’s meant we could work on getting money out really quickly.

“However, there are still a few hundred who haven’t yet given us the details we need to make the grant payment.

“To them our message is to go to our website as soon as possible and complete the form - it could make a massive difference.”

Businesses can provide their details at ryedale.gov.uk/business-support