Leader of the council on business support following lockdown extension

Support includes COVID-19 business grant payments and to date over £120m has been distributed to local businesses by Southampton City Council.

Councillor Daniel Fitzhenry, Leader of Southampton City Council, said:

“The news of the lockdown extension will have caused many businesses much concern this week. As a council we will be doing everything we can to support them and Get Southampton Moving. In light of this news, we have accelerated the distribution of our Additional Restrictions Grants to those adversely impacted local businesses - with 100% of the budget being issued a month earlier, by the end of June. We have focused on distributing these funds to businesses reliant on the night-time economy and we are also actively seeking additional funding from the government to support those businesses further.

"We would encourage all eligible businesses that have not yet applied to the Restart Grant to do so, as this is scheduled to close on 30 June. This is available for non-essential retail businesses and hospitality, accommodation, leisure, gym and personal care businesses. We hope that our grant support, alongside other government schemes and council initiatives, such as the free evening parking in the city centre, will go some way to helping businesses and we will continue to work with them to Get Southampton Moving.”

In addition to the grant support available, as part of the council’s Get Southampton Moving campaign, they have introduced free evening parking in the city centre. This is designed to welcome people back to the city centre safely, support local people and businesses, and provide a much-needed boost to Southampton’s night-time economy as we recover from the pandemic.

This week, the council also announced its plans to reopen Bedford place to vehicles on Monday 19 July, after listening to businesses in the area. The survey was launched on 26 May to gather feedback from businesses about the temporary pedestrianisation scheme and found that 57% of respondents are in favour of seeing the road reopened. Residents are also being encouraged to support local businesses through the new Southampton savings card – SO card.