Newry BID

Check out details of this year's Newry Business Charity Christmas Dinner event which is scheduled to take place on Thursday 5th December 2024.

Are you a local employer in the Greater Newry Area? You are invited to attend an Employer Support - Information Event  WHERE: The Joe Magill Suite – Enterprise Agency, WIN Industrial Estate, Newry WHEN: Thursday 10th October, 2024 12 noon until 2pm. This is organised by the @Cross Border Partnership for Employment Services in conjunction with Department for Communities and Department of Social Protection. The event will begin at 12 midday and finish with a light lunch and networking opportunity at 2.00pm. See booking details in image attached. Eamonn Connolly Newry Chamber Business Support & Innovation at SRC  InterTradeIreland

Congratulations to our Newry BID Manager Eamonn Connolly who picked up an award on Thursday night at the Newry Chamber Team and Employee Awards. 👏🎉👏 We were delighted to see Eamonn recognised for what he does to support Newry city centre. #NewryChamberAwards2024 #BelongInvestDeliver

Today our BID Manager Eamonn Connolly is on his travels. For the weekend that is in it, he and his some of his team colleagues from the Down GAA All Ireland 1994 All Ireland winning team were invited to Croke Park for a reception to honour their achievements, 30 years on from the Final. Congratulations Eamonn and team. ⚫️ 🔴 Hopefully, even though you are Down men, you will bring some good luck to our neighbours in Armagh this weekend.⚪️🟠

Newry BID Welcomes Phase Two of Flood Support Grant Newry BID welcomes the news this morning that the Enhanced Flood Damage Grant application process is now open today. Newry BID has been lobbying for this additional support from the £15m pledged by the UK Government to be made available to flood impacted businesses as quickly as possible. Eamonn Connolly, Newry BID Manager said, “We have had oversight of the application form and the process to allocate the remaining £10m of the grant support. Much as we had expected, the process will be overseen by appointed Loss Adjustors and will involve time and effort on the impacted businesses behalf to complete this. There is however, up to £100,000 of additional support for businesses worst affected. “We welcome the addition of loss of stock as a consideration in the allocation of support and we hope that this will cover many of our members and others who were affected by the flooding. The issues we have are with the bigger businesses who incurred more than £100,000 damage and the businesses who didn’t, for a number of reasons, qualify for the initial £7,500 grant. The enhanced support requires the business to have met the criteria for the initial £7,500 support. We will continue to lobby on these businesses’ behalf.” “We also welcome the new updates pertaining to businesses with flood insurance that isn’t paying out on part of the damage falling within consideration for the scheme and the advent of a much need appeals process.” Eamonn Connolly continued, “We urge businesses get sight of this form as quickly as possible and start working on it. It needs to be submitted by 22nd March at noon (closing date). We will be holding mini workshops for members to support with completion of the paperwork. Details of these will be sent to members. We ask that NMD Council please process these applications as quickly as possible as the need is great in the business community. We cannot have people waiting for support for another day longer than they have to and the lack of time related parameters re. payments on the guidance notes is a concern.” “Finally, we have held a number of meetings with impacted members and key outputs emerged. People want answers about how and why this happened; and they also want assurances that investment will be made in flood alleviation to prevent this from happening again. Businesses need confidence and certainty to continue to trade in a flood risk area such as Newry City Centre. We will continue to lobby those with infrastructure powers to please address the deficit. We need help to deliver a Newry City centre we are proud to live and work in; and a city that is fit for the future to attract continued investment and deliver business growth.”                                                                            For further press information or to arrange an interview, please contact Deborah Loughran, King Communication on 07834101628.

UPDATE ON SUPPORT FOR FLOOD IMPACTED BUSINESSES We have just received the following information in relation to the next round of support for businesses impacted by recent flooding. Please be aware that this has not been formally announced yet. The final detail could change up until the application process formally opens, however it is likely to be a good indication of the direction of travel. The key point here is that there appears to have been a change of heart in relation to claims for stock. It now looks likely that these claims will be included, which is something we had lobbied hard for. See update below: The application process has been delayed due to a reconsideration of the criteria announced in December. This is good news, as it has been done to allow businesses to make claims for stock (which was originally to be excluded), in addition to fixtures/fittings, equipment, relocation & clean-up costs). The Department for Economy now hopes to open applications towards the end of next week. The Department will be bringing in an independent loss assessor to verify all claims. This will add time onto the processing of applications but also hopefully widens the scope of what can be claimed for, as long as relevant invoices and/or quotes can be provided. The Department has received some assurances from Treasury that they can run the scheme into the next financial year. Whilst this suggests claims will take some time to process; it also means the process won’t be rushed and they will be able to tailor the criteria to ensure fairness and inclusion of as many businesses as possible. There will be a two-tranche model for the next round, with £10k available relatively quickly to aid cashflow where applicable, and the remainder (up to £100k) paid at a later date subject to Departmental loss assessment. There will be a parallel claims process for businesses previously excluded from the £7.5k grants. We do not have much information on how this will work, but understand that the Department will be looking at this on a case by case basis, and that they will try to use as much of the remaining £15m for this (after claims to those currently eligible are paid). We understand the Department has a list of people who have appealed or raised concern about not being included previously. If you have not already done this please contact the BID office for support as we are working with local representatives to review several declined applications from the first round of funding (£7.5K). The Department recognises there is a need for bridging finance if, as anticipated, the assessment process takes several months, and whilst the Department would not be providing this, we are in the early stages of conversations to see if we can create local solutions with local lenders on this. If you have any questions on the above please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Eamonn at Newry BID. #belonginvestdeliver #NewryBID #flooding

It has been a challenging 2023 for business, but in Newry city centre we are resilient and resourceful. We are looking forward to a successful 2024, with lots more activities, interventions and events to support our members. Thank you all and we look forward to a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year. Eamonn and team NEWRY BID. #belonginvestdeliver #2024 #NewryBID

The work continues over the weekend on the flood recovery efforts. Please see below details from NMD Business (Newry, Mourne and Down District Council) about how to make a claim for the £7,500 grant support. This must be made by Friday 17th November 2023. This applies to all businesses, even if you have already engaged with Environmental Health. If any BID members need help with this, please let us know. We have also been approached by The Bank Newry about hosting an event to support the businesses impacted. This will take place on Friday night 17th November. https://lnkd.in/e4cFHm84 Please save the date in your diary and come along, if you can. Details will be announced on Monday 13th November.

Today NEWRY BID Manager Eamonn Connolly spent most of the afternoon on a briefing call to dissect the details of the £15 million support package offered yesterday by the Secretary of State. While this early intervention is welcome, we will continue to lobby hard for further and long-term support for those worst impacted. In relation to yesterday’s announcement there are a couple of clear, key points: • The £15M package is to deal with the economic shock to businesses and will not be invested in infrastructure. • Businesses impacted will receive £7,500 each to support with the cost of the immediate clean up. We stressed that this must be direct monetary value rather than via support services. This was agreed. These cheques will start to be issued from Monday. • Impacted businesses will also receive full rates relief from November 2023 through until March 2024. • If you have already paid your rates for November, you will receive a refund. • Businesses required to temporarily relocate will also receive three months rates relief on the temporary property. • This immediate support will be going to operational businesses who were directly affected and will be administered by NMD Business (Newry, Mourne and Down District Council). • If you believe you are entitled to this funding please see press release linked below from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council with further information. We are still working through and lobbying on your behalf, in relation to how the remaining funds committed will be allocated. A Business Case must be made to Treasury on how it is spent. In relation to the remaining funding, we will be engaging directly through workshops and one to one meetings with members, on how best to maximise the value of this support. • One of the key criteria of further support will be the requirement to reopen. • Another will be that the business had no flood insurance. We realise that some businesses need substantial support to reopen, and we are lobbying for further funding to support this initial £15M package. Businesses suffering indirect loss will be able to apply to the Rates Hardship Fund in due course and information sessions with LPS on this will be announced soon. BID visited several impacted members yesterday with representatives from Department for Communities (DFC). We are delighted that they have indicated a willingness to provide additional lower-level support to our members as a result. Further information on what this may look like will follow. https://lnkd.in/eEHdgsEa #belonginvestdeliver #Floods