Kirkwall BID gains funding to support and promote businesses Orkney-wide for five months

KRKWALL BID has been awarded funding from Scotland’s Improvement Districts following a successful application under its new Resilience Fund from Scottish Government.

The Covid-19 BID Resilience Fund aims to help BIDs provide a key response role within the local community, working with local authorities and key working groups/charities in the area.

Kirkwall BID are now launching their ‘Kirkwall BID & Beyond’ Project immediately, and invite operational businesses outside the Kirkwall BID area to sign-up for business support, promotion and networking.

The duration of this project is initially planned until September 30, 2020, and will be reassessed continually during this period, to reflect the ever-changing situation.

Kirkwall BID had previously announced that they were suspending levy payments for BID members, and would be operating at minimal levels during the period of reduced income.

Kirkwall BID consultant Laura Bruce will head the project.

She said: “We’ve developed various plans to reach businesses across Orkney, and hope that working alongside charities and voluntary organisations we can help to strengthen Orkney’s business response to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

“We feel we have a lot of knowledge and information which may help connect businesses throughout Orkney and the islands. We are a familiar organisation with a large following on social media outlets to help us reach as many people as possible.

“The reach and scope of our project will depend on the funding received, but we hope to be a valuable point of contact for businesses during this challenging and fast-moving time.”

BID Chair Duncan McLean added: “We will be continuing to support and promote Kirkwall businesses as we always do, but in these extraordinary times it’s good that we can reach out a little bit further too.”

For more information about this project, or to sign-up as a business please see social media or www.kirkwallbid.co.uk/BIDandBeyond