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A South Down MLA has expressed his disappointment that flood relief funding which was announced before Christmas is still not open for applications. Many businesses are still not back in operation following extensive flooding in Newry and Downpatrick in late October/ early November. It will take substantial six figure sums for some of these to get back into business.
Patrick Brown said that cash is needed now for businesses affected by flooding. "It is disappointing that applications for the next round of flood relief funding has not yet gone live. These grants of up to £100k will be a vital lifeline for businesses in the Newry and Downpatrick areas who now face a bleak New Year, and I fear many will struggle to remain commercially viable. This cash injection is needed now, and I urge the department to move more quickly to launch the application process and provide certainty and hope to flooded businesses." he said.
Mr Brown believes the current delays are due in part to complications over the criteria of the grants. "I can only hope this means the department has reversed their previous flawed decision to exclude certain applicants, such as those with inadequate insurance cover or non-trading charities. I also hope they have developed a process for allowing businesses to claim for stock losses. If these changes are made, I believe the council must also retrospectively re-open the £7.5k grants for those previously excluded. If these changes have not been made I will be making direct representations to the department to change their criteria."
Many businesses have received no funding at all as criteria for an initial grant meant that if a business wasn't trading at the moment of the flood that they weren't considered.
