• I WAS shocked to hear on Monday that Camden Council had lost track of grants it had left to give to businesses in the borough to help them through coronavirus.

These grants are funded by the government but administered by councils – and councils’ performances vary dramatically.

Two months after the government gave the money to Camden to distribute, 980 businesses in the borough have still not received it.

Camden’s cabinet member has been fooled into thinking that because a lot of money has been distributed, that means almost all the grants have been distributed. This is a basic error.

The larger £25,000 grants for retail and hospitality were distributed quickly in all councils, and as Camden has many retail and hospitality businesses, this flattered Camden’s stats.

However the £10,000 grants that most small businesses qualify for has required more work. It seems Camden quickly gave up on getting those businesses this lifeline that the government had provided.

As a result, official statistics show that 22 per cent of Camden businesses have still not received their grants. This means more businesses are losing out in Camden than 95 per cent of councils in England and all but one of London’s 32 other councils.

Sadly Camden’s Labour cabinet didn’t realise this, and was absolutely insistent that just 8 per cent of grants had not been distributed. That is, sadly, not true. Over a third of the £10,000 grants have not been distributed.

This ignorance means that Camden is not making the desperately-needed changes to the scheme which would benefit 1,000 local small businesses to the tune of £10,000 each.

Seven councils have distributed the government support to every single business that qualifies – four of those are London councils, including neighbouring Westminster.

It is not difficult for Camden to follow suit, and its obstinate refusal to do so puts hundreds of local businesses and jobs at risk.

CLLR OLIVER COOPER
Leader, Camden Conservatives