Issue - decisions

2.        Recommendation

2.1           The proposal to support businesses most impacted by the government’s four-week extended lockdown restrictions (from 21^st June – 19^th July 2021), as outlined in Section 5 of this report, is approved.The amendment to this report involved the inclusion of Casinos as an eligible business category of round 3 of the ARG scheme which is currently being administered.

3.        Reasons for Decision 

3.1       The proposal outlined in section 5 of this report seeks to provide crucial support to those business groups who are considered to be most impacted within the borough by the four-week extension to lockdown restrictions for the period between 21^st June – 19^th July 2021. This is in line with the government’s request that local authorities support these businesses within the third tranche of funding that they have been allocated.

3.2       The business groups listed within section 5 of the previously approved and published Cabinet Member Report, were a directly extracted list from the guidance issued by BEIS to all local authorities in England. As this list was not exhaustive, it did not explicitly name “casinos” as a recommended business group to be prioritised for support through tranche 3 of the ARG. As such, this report seeks the approval for casinos to be included as part of this list under section 5 of this report.