Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point in the meeting, the Executive Member is asked to

declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of

Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

The Executive Member confirmed that he had no personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, nor any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests, to declare in the business on the agenda.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Decision Session held on 27 October 2020.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the Decision Session held on 27 October 2020 be approved, to be signed by the Executive Member at a later date.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines have changed to 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at remote meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Tuesday 3 November 2020.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting whose details can be found at the foot of this agenda.  

Webcasting of Remote Public Meetings

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During coronavirus, we've made some changes to how we're running council meetings. See our coronavirus updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been three registrations to speak on Agenda Item 4 - Tier 2 Local Restrictions Business Grant Scheme at the session under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Martin Spencer spoke about Let’s Be York in supporting York enterprises to make sure that all businesses are supported - including freelancers, directors, and businesses who trade in York but whose owners do not live in York. He made a number of suggested solutions to assist in this process.

Kevin Tuohy spoke about support for traders at the Shambles market who had lost trade at a time of year when they would be making a surplus to last the rest of the year. He noted that the market could help the way forward in  igniting footfall in York. He asked whether local traders on Shambles market could get financial assistance for such as rents from CYC through the equivalent of  the local restrictions business grant.

David Carruthers, the owner of a retail travel agency in Haxby requested that travel businesses be considered for the grant. He explained that due to ever changing travel restrictions travel businesses had zero income since March and he  felt that the industry has been ignored. He hoped that the council would look at how this has impacted sectors such as travel agencies and tour operators.

This report will outline the proposed method of delivering the Tier 2 business grant scheme. The report will be published after Government guidance is released.

Resolved:

a)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Tier 2 local restrictions grant in line with the Government principles set out at Annex A of the report.

b)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Lockdown business grants in line with the Government principles set out in Annex A of the report.

c)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Sector grants in line with the Government principles set out in Annex A of the report.

d)   That a further report to be brought back to the next available decision session of the Executive Member for Finance & Performance, to approve a scheme for the discretionary funding provided as part of the Government Lockdown (in consultation with the Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning).  

e)   That delegation for any future changes resulting from Government guidance in relation to this scheme be given to the Chief Finance Officer (s151) in consultation with the Executive Member Finance and Performance/Executive Member Economy & Strategic Planning, and approval process outlined at paragraph 17 of the report.

Reason:     To provide urgent financial support to the city’s Hospitality and Leisure businesses who are most effected by the Tier 2 restrictions.

The Executive Member considered a report that set out the principles of the Local Restriction Grants (LRG) for Tier 2, and Sector and Lockdown for approval to support York businesses. The report recommended that a further report be brought back as soon as possible to a future meeting, with recommendations on how the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) provided as part of the Government’s covid-19 support can be used.

The Head of Customer and Exchequer Services reported that the council had received income of £4million and the government had indicated that this would be one off funding to potentially last 15 months. He noted that the information on the grants would be included on the COVID-19 pages on the council website. In response to questions from the Executive Member he confirmed that the Tier 2 grants would be superseded by the new lockdown grants. He added that there were different types of businesses eligible for the grant and the simplest way to ensure that the grants were paid to the right people was through the application process.

The Executive Member welcomed the grant and noted the importance of communications as an important and challenging approach to allocating the grants. He then:

Resolved:

a)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Tier 2 local restrictions grant in line with the Government principles set out at Annex A of the report.

b)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Lockdown business grants in line with the Government principles set out in Annex A of the report.

c)   That approval be given to the distribution of the Sector grants in line with the Government principles set out in Annex A of the report.

d)   That a further report to be brought back to the next available decision session of the Executive Member for Finance & Performance, to approve a scheme for the discretionary funding provided as part of the Government Lockdown (in consultation with the Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning).  

e)   That delegation for any future changes resulting from Government guidance in relation to this scheme be given to the Chief Finance Officer (s151) in consultation with the Executive Member Finance and Performance/Executive Member Economy & Strategic Planning, and approval process outlined at paragraph 17 of the report.

Reason:     To provide urgent financial support to the city’s Hospitality and Leisure businesses who are most effected by the Tier 2 restrictions.