Flood Update

Today, following our Newry BID AGM we met with the Secretary of State Chris Heaton- Harris who announced £15 million support for businesses impacted by the recent flooding. We have no further details at this stage but we welcome this first step. We will continue to lobby for long-term support and for this first round of funding to be quickly and easily available.

I will be doing a number of media interviews this afternoon/ this evening about this to support our ‘open for business’ messaging; and we will get the finer details of the scheme to those impacted, as soon as we get them.
If you would like any further support, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thanks
Eamonn

Newry BID Welcomes First Stage Funding for Businesses Impacted by Flooding

Following a meeting today between Newry BID (Business Improvement District), local businesses, and other stakeholders with the NI Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris in Newry, an announcement was made of £15 million funding to support businesses with the clean-up operation and to help businesses reopen.

Eamonn Connolly, Newry BID Manager reacted to this by saying, ” This is a good start and we welcome this announcement. We thank the Secretary of State for coming to Newry to tell us this in person. We have been lobbying hard with other stakeholders in recent days for immediate support. This is a positive investment. It will help towards giving our members the confidence and funding required to deliver short-term fixes to hopefully get them back to trading.

“We are not clear yet how this will be administered but we call for this to be quickly and easily available for those worst impacted.

“We will continue to lobby for long-term support and for work on a root cause analysis to help prevent this devastation from happening again.”

Northern Ireland Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said:

“The floods have been devastating for all those who have suffered the destruction of their homes and businesses. I have previously seen all the hard work that has gone into the areas affected to build facilities, invest and grow businesses, and improve the local area.

“I can only imagine how people must be feeling to see the destruction these floods have brought to areas they’ve invested so much in. Those who have suffered damage need reassurance that support will be available. This is rightly something that a devolved Executive should be able to deliver. “

“However, in the absence of the Executive which could have acted swiftly, the UK Government will make available up to £15m of support through the reallocation of existing NI funding. This will help with clean-up costs and support businesses to resume trading. “

“We will continue to work closely with the NI Civil Service and local councils to ensure that support gets to those who need it as quickly as possible.”