Last month Tendring District Council launched the Harwich and Dovercourt Bay Business Grants Scheme, and eligible traders are being encouraged to use the enforced lockdown period to send in their application form and draw up their plans.

Independent businesses in Dovercourt and Historic Harwich, can apply for a match-funded grant towards improvement works on their premises, with grants ranging from as little as £200 up to a maximum of £2,000. The work must be agreed with TDC before it commences, and the grant is paid once the works are completed.

Cllr Mary Newton, the council’s Cabinet Member for Business and Economic Growth, added: “Although council representatives visited all the businesses in both towns in early March, before the lockdown, we appreciate this grant scheme may have been put on the back burner while immediate matters of enforced closure and social distancing took precedence.

“We would like to remind businesses in Harwich and Dovercourt about the scheme, which is perhaps more important than ever now as we begin to consider how our recovery from this pandemic may look. Although we know many businesses are not currently able to trade or open their business at the moment, it could be ideal time to consider how you might be able to make use of these grants and consider an application.”

For full details of the grant scheme visit www.tendringdc.gov.uk/tendring4growth