Brighton and Hove City Council Council awarded £500k to help welcome visitors back to city after lockdown

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From the fund, £100,000 has been allocated to support high streets and communities outside of the main high street and beach front areas in Brighton and Hove.From the fund, £100,000 has been allocated to support high streets and communities outside of the main high street and beach front areas in Brighton and Hove.
From the fund, £100,000 has been allocated to support high streets and communities outside of the main high street and beach front areas in Brighton and Hove.

A fund which aims to help city centres and seaside resorts welcome back visitors after lockdown has awarded Brighton and Hove City Council £583,538.

The money from the Welcome Back Fund will be dedicated to the city’s local economy and council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “We will use these funds to support the diversity of our economy, reaching out to local areas, and supporting events, communities and local high streets, as well as investing in tourism and culture, which are the lifeblood of our city’s economy.”

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Councillors will decide on how the money will be spent at the Policy & Resources (Recovery) Sub-Committee this Thursday, July 22.

But of the money, the council said around £250,000 is set to go towards local tourism initiatives, of which £100,000 has been allocated to support local high streets and communities outside of the main high street and beach front areas. A further £94,000 will be invested in temporary street measures such as sanitiser stations and temporary toilets, and £75,000 will support cultural recovery in the city.

Mark Buchanan-Smith, chair of the city’s Destination Experience Group, said: “The Visitor Economy has suffered significantly through the pandemic; however, we are starting to see green shoots of recovery in some areas. Any additional support and funding to help our city’s visitor economy recover, given it means so much to our city’s businesses and employment, is warmly welcomed.”

Councillor Mac Cafferty added: “We know how hard businesses have worked to keep our city on the path to recovery, and these funds will help keep Brighton and Hove open and safe for everyone who lives, works and visits the city.”

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Local artists and arts organisations will distribute the allocation for events and cultural recovery, through the ABCD for Cultural Recovery group, which was set up voluntarily by organisations and individuals in Brighton and Hove to create a plan for the sector. Find more information on the culture in our city website at: https://cultureinourcity.com/The council is working out the process for distributing the £100,000 allocation for local high streets.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – which has put £56million into the Welcome Back Fund – and the government have set out that councils can use the funding to address the longer-term impact of Covid-19 on local economies. This includes activities that last as long as restrictions are in place as well as those that help secure the future of the country’s high streets. It cannot be used for permanent changes or to give direct financial support to businesses for adaptations to premises, to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), goods or equipment, or to offset wages or other operating costs.