Bournemouth Chamber of Trade & Commerce

Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce

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Author: Bournemouth Chamber of Trade & Commerce

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£115,000 available for Businesses to Support Cycling and Sustainable Travel to Work.

Businesses across south east Dorset are being invited to apply for grants of between £500 and £20,000 to spend on new workplace facilities that encourage their employees to cycle or adopt sustainable travel to work.

A total of £100,000 is available for the grants through BCP and Dorset councils’ Transforming Cities Fund programme which aims to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions by offering people safe, green and active travel alternatives to the car, particularly for short journeys.

Under this grant scheme, businesses in the south east Dorset Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) region can apply for grants of up to £20,000 to help them build, install or improve ‘trip end facilities’ at their place of employment.  This can include projects such as the installation of bike parking/storage, showers, lockers, bike repair stands, outdoor bike pumps, clothes drying facilities and electric bike charging points.

The scheme not only focuses on encouraging employees to cycle to work, but also many of the facilities supported by the grant scheme, such as shower and locker facilities, will also encourage employees to walk to and from the bus as well as to walk and run to work.

Similar grant schemes have been extremely popular and oversubscribed, and all grants will be awarded through a competitive application process. Businesses wanting to apply for a grant should visit to our information page where they can download the guidance document and an application form.  These should be completed by 9 March 2022.

About the ‘Business Trip End Grant Scheme’:

  • More information on the grants and a copy of the scheme guidance document and application form is available here or by emailing the Sustainable Travel Team at BCP Council (a2b.team@bcpcouncil.gov.uk). Please put ‘Business Trip End Grant Scheme’ as the subject.
  • Businesses are required to provide a further 20% match funding from their own resources in addition to any grant that is awarded.
  • Businesses applying for the grants must be located no more than two kilometres from one of the six new sustainable travel routes currently being delivered under the south east Dorset TCF programme.
  • Businesses receiving grants must demonstrate a long-term commitment towards cycling by applying for Cycling UK’s Cycle Friendly Employer scheme and achieving a minimum of the bronze accreditation before grant funds will be released (details can be found here or contact accreditation@cyclinguk.org).

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Omicron Additional Restrictions Grant now open

The Omicron Additional Restrictions Grant has been set up to provide direct grants to hospitality and leisure businesses that have been severely financially impacted by the Omicron variant and have not been eligible for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant.

This scheme is now open to applications. Please read the eligibility details and scheme document carefully before applying. If your business is eligible, please complete the application form without delay. The deadline to apply is 28 February 2022 at midnight.

 

Find out more and apply

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Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant

This grant is aimed at businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors only. Please note that the government has determined the application closure date is 18 March 2022 and we must carry out prepayment checks and determine all awards by 31 March 2022.

In view of this, please ensure you submit your application without delay to ensure there is sufficient time to validate claims, complete the required prepayment checks and process payments to qualifying recipients by 31 March 2022.

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant is only available to businesses on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) ratings list.

Find out more and apply here

 

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THE BOURNEMOUTH BUSINESS AWARDS ARE OPEN

The Bournemouth Business Awards focus on the quality and range of local businesses giving them a chance to gain recognition and promote themselves.

The awards are not an excuse for a party. The focus is on the entries and not the event. It’s a chance for local businesses to network while the awards presentation will also be live-streamed to reach the maximum number of people.

Tuesday, 25th January 2022 will see the official launch of the awards and entries open. Entry is free and businesses can enter as many categories as they wish. People can also nominate businesses they believe deserve an award. Please read the entry guidelines before entering or nominating.

To enter the awards, simply visit the Bournemouth Business Awards website.

AWARDS CATEGORIES

These are the categories, but If there are others you would like considered, please let the team know by emailing networking@marketingwest.co.uk
  • Best Place to Work
  • Best Use of Innovation
  • Excellence in Customer Service
  • Café, Pub, Hospitality Business of The Year
  • Green/Eco-Business of the Year
  • Health, Beauty and Fitness
  • Independent Business of the Year
  • Local Artisans and Produce
  • New Business of the Year
  • Outstanding Community Support
  • Professional Services Business
  • Retail Business of the Year
  • Young Entrepreneur/Rising Star
  • The Dorset Mind award for businesses that show an ongoing awareness and commitment to improving mental health in the workplace.
  • Overall Business of the Year

BCTC recognise the value these awards bring to the local area, and have decided to partner the awards. Our very own Jacqui Rock and Yvonne Phillips attended Bournemouth University and met Nigel Reeve from Marketing West Ltd to celebrate the launch of the awards.

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The top issues facing your business in 2022

As we begin 2022, UK firms face an unprecedented business environment. The core mission for every Accredited Chamber of Commerce is to support businesses through these challenges. To inform this support and generate the evidence to shape government policy, we’re seeking your views on a snapshot of some of the key issues at present:

  • The impact of COVID-19 and Plan B restrictions;
  • Whether the Brexit deal is working;
  • Inflation;
  • Where the Government should focus its trade negotiation priorities.

Click here to take the survey

Your input is shared directly to the most senior policy makers in UK government, and has been used consistently to shape policy, including the introduction of many COVID-19 business support schemes. BCC research also receives widespread national and international media coverage.

As a business community, we can help support each other through the challenges and opportunities that 2022 will bring. Our collective voice has never been more important.

Thank you for getting involved.

Shevaun Haviland, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce

Resources for your business: 

There are a wide range of resources at https://www.britishchambers.org.uk providing business support on trade, Brexit, and net zero, as well as webinars, research and news. And of course, please contact your Local Chamber of Commerce to look for solutions to any issues your business may be facing.

 

Start Survey here

 

British Chambers of Commerce
65 Petty France
London
SW1H 9EU

020 7654 5800
www.britishchambers.org.uk
@britishchambers

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ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE

IF YOU QUALIFY PLEASE APPLY BEFORE EOD 24TH JANUARY, 2022

BCP Council has announced that applications for the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) Stream 4, Strategic Business Round 2 are now open. Please see the information below and to apply:

Due to limited applications made for the previous Strategic Businesses scheme, the criteria has been changed. A new application window has been set up to support more medium and large businesses.

Eligibility

To qualify for a grant, businesses must:

  • be a medium or large business which employs over 20 people
  • have been severely financially impacted by the pandemic with a reduction in business income of at least 25% during a period of at least 6 months compared with similar comparable periods of trade
  • be able to demonstrate tangible outputs for recovery (capital expenditure is not permitted)
  • not have received a Local Restrictions Support Grant or previous Additional Restrictions Grant.

How much support eligible businesses will receive:

Grants to eligible businesses can be up to £25,000 in order to enable tangible outputs for recovery. This fund is a competitive process and each application will be assessed against the scoring matrix with recommendations made for approval by the Award Panel. As such only those with the highest scores from the Award Panel will be funded within the budget allocated. Applicants will be notified of decisions following the assessments after the end of the application window.

To request the application form in Word document format, please emailargstream4@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Once completed the form must be returned by email with the required supporting documents to argstream4@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

By downloading and completing this form you confirm that your business complies with the eligibility criteria detailed above.

The application window is open from 10 January 2022 until midnight on 24 January 2022.

 

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OMICRON HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE. IF YOU QUALIFY PLEASE APPLY BEFORE EOD 14TH FEBRUARY, 2022.

It’s aimed at businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors only.

https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/News/News-Features/COVID-19/Employers-and-businesses/Financial-support-for-businesses/Omicron-Hospitality-and-Leisure-Grant.aspx

 

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Financial support announced for businesses impacted by the Omicron variant

The UK Government announced additional financial support for businesses most impacted by the Omicron variant, particularly those in Hospitality and Leisure:

  • Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises, plus more discretionary funding will be made available for local authorities to support other businesses
  • Government will also cover the cost of Statutory Sick Pay for Covid-related absences for small and medium-sized employers across the UK
  • Further funding will be made available through the Culture Recovery Fund, enabling more cultural organisations in England to apply for support during the winter

BCP Council is currently awaiting further guidance regarding eligibility, timing and grant allocations and will communicate updates via our business newsletter, website and social media as soon as possible.

Find out more here from UK Gov.uk.

 

 

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Cook up a storm this Christmas with AFCB! ?‍?

Prepare Christmas dinner in style this year with kitchenware inspired by the Cherries.

The perfect gift for budding chefs and bakers, the Cherries three-piece bundle includes oven gloves, a tea towel and an apron for just £25. You can also pick up each individually from as little as £8.

Take a trip to Vitality Stadium for a festive shopping experience or shop online and have all your gifts delivered straight to your door by clicking below.

Shop now.