Issue - meetings

Motions

Meeting: 06/08/2020 - Policy and Sustainability Committee (Item 8)

By Councillor Lang - Council Support for Local Businesses

By Councillor Lang - Council Support for Local Businesses

“Committee:

1)         notes that, as of 21 July, the Council has paid out to local businesses £102.7m of the £111.5m allocated by the Scottish Government for business grants.

2)         notes that it was suggested in the ‘Revenue Update 2020/21’ report to the meeting of the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 23 July that any underspend on the Business Grants Scheme, rather than being returned to the Scottish and/or UK Government, instead be made available to local authorities to support flexible, place?based local economic recovery, a role they are ideally placed to lead on.

3)         notes that the ‘Supporting Local Businesses in Edinburgh’ report to the meeting of the full Council on 28 July called for a ‘Support for Local Business’ campaign in aid of traders in local town centres and high streets.

4)         believes one of the best ways, if not the best way, to support local businesses to recover and thrive is through measures which actively encourage people to visit and spend money with those businesses.

5)         therefore calls for officers to explore the feasibility of issuing every Council taxpaying household a voucher or vouchers totalling £30 to be spent only with a small Edinburgh based businesses and for this to be funded from the underspend on the Business Grants Scheme.

6)         agrees that the Leader of the Council should write to the Scottish Government to make the case for such a proposal.”

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