BID and Beyond to receive £5.5k from OIC

Kirkwall BID and Beyond will be awarded £5,500 from Orkney Islands Council, councillors agreed, this afternoon, Thursday.

The decision was made at a meeting of the OIC policy and resources committee, where both councillors and officials spoke with great gusto about the work the BID has done to support businesses in Kirkwall and around Orkney, throughout the coronavirus crisis.

The funding award is to be made in lieu of the council retroactively paying its levy charge to the BID for the first half of this financial year. Kirkwall BID took the decision to suspend all levy payments for the first six months of 2020/21, as the county moved into lockdown and its requisite financial uncertainty.

More recently, the BID made a request to Orkney Islands Council, asking it to retroactively pay its levy for the first half of the year, in order to boost funding. However, officials advised that — were the council to make that payment — it would be necessary for other businesses in the improvement district to make this back-payment as well. Instead, they suggested to councillors that a one-off equivalent grant of £5,500 would be a better option.

This was unanimously agreed by councillors, who said they were pleased to be supporting the BID and its efforts.