Annex C: ARG Traders’ Fund allocation
Background
A paper entitled City of York Council Recovery and Renewal Strategy was taken by Executive in March 2021. Annex 1 set aside £200k of contingency funding from the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) to support the re-opening of the City Centre. From that overall value, it was resolved that a sum of £80k be used for Trader initiatives to fund the delivery of the principles for managing city and secondary centre spaces.
Traders’ Associations were invited to bring forward ideas, projects and initiatives to support business reopening after the current COVID lockdown. Example initiatives suggested were around publicity, marketing and promotion, COVID safe behaviour, events and training/support for staff.
Successful projects
Ten projects totalling £27,410 have been approved under delegated authority by the Director of Housing Economy and Regeneration as follows:
|
Organisation |
Project |
Project value |
|
Indie York (1) |
Create a promotional video for Indie York, commissioned from an independent operator in the City. This will promote Indie York and its 200+ member businesses through a paid social media campaign, with a budget of £5 per day for 90 days |
£2,945 |
|
Indie York (2) |
Create a further 12 x shorter (30 second) “Meet The Member” videos which can be similarly be used on the Indie York website, and on social media for organic engagement. |
£1,695 |
|
Goodramgate Traders’ Association |
Commission 3,000 ‘Heritage Trail maps, including photography and graphic design, plus leaflet, dispensers of the Goodramgate area. Designed to be family friendly, this is a free physical map to share the ‘secrets, history and magic of the area. |
£4,560 |
|
Micklegate Business Initiative (1) |
The Micklegate Mingle – to close the street at Christmas time and divert traffic for an evening, buy in a Father Christmas experience for children, including gifts, and stage live music. The local traders set up stalls, or stay open later, and give the local community some family friendly fun. This sum will cover closure costs with traffic management and licenses. |
£4,500 |
|
Micklegate Business Initiative (2) |
Micklegate Soapbox Run - Although the event will not go ahead in 2021, some items such as websites, accounting, social media and storage of infrastructure for the race must be kept going. |
£2,500 |
|
York Retail Forum (1) |
Retail investment drive for the City Centre – set up a project to pair/ match expanding retailers with empty shops in the City. Create a list of all vacant shops and restaurants within the City Centre. YRF will work with agents to build this list, and contact out to those not actively marketing property. They plan to employ a freelance placemaker to help chase agents and the requirements list contacts |
£3,660 |
|
York Retail Forum (2) |
Communication and promotions support for the 300+ York Retail Forum members, for whom membership is free. Includes Zoom annual subscriptions, website hosting and marketing, pop up banners and marketing, database creation and independent business support. |
£2,270 |
|
Shambles Area Trading Association |
Snow in Shambles. The funding for this project is normally raised through business sponsorship, but this has been affected by the pandemic. This event was previously seen by over 870,000 people on Facebook, and also entertains many local families. The money is needed to test and prepare the snow machines, and to purchase enough snow fluid to last through the Christmas period. |
£1,800 |
|
York Market Traders’ Forum |
The objective is to answer the many questions asked about the Shambles Market on a daily basis using the distinct voice of the traders via video, website and social media content. The project is set out as follows: - Identify five of the most searched for online queries about the Shambles Market. - Commission a videographer to record video answers from the Traders’ website; designer to design website. - Commission an editor to produce videos for these answers in the Market setting with the Market's people. - Produce one long form video, 5 x short form videos and 5 x 30 second TikTok style videos. - Place online on YouTube, our Market Traders’ website and Facebook to allow people to search the answers and promote the Market at the same time. |
£3,480 |
|
|
TOTAL AMOUNT APPROVED |
£27,410 |