Post Public Disturbances (Payments to Local Authorities)

Tuesday 27th March 2012 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Robert Neill)]

On 12 August 2011, as part of a concerted, cross-Government action, the Government announced a series of measures to help rebuild communities following the riots and public disorder in the summer of 2011.

The package provided immediate and ongoing support to open up shops and rebuild buildings which were damaged, make sure people who lost their homes were re-housed, and to help councils get their areas back to normal as quickly as possible.

Under these schemes, local councils were placed in the lead in providing support to local firms and local residents. Central Government committed to reimburse local councils for their incurred costs retrospectively (in a similar way to how the Bellwin scheme has operated historically).

As made clear when the schemes were launched, central Government are not funding affected firms or residents directly. Payments are linked to the claims submitted and the costs incurred.

In answers to previous parliamentary questions, I committed to update the House on the payments being made. I am now able to confirm the payments paid out by my Department in respect of the following funding schemes:

High Street Support Scheme

Jointly funded by the Department for Communities for Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the scheme helped councils to reduce business rates, finance emergency building repairs and encourage customers back to the affected areas. At the request of councils and businesses, the Government extended the payment deadline from 7 November to 3 January to cover the run-up to Christmas.

Some £7.4 million has been paid to 24 local authorities for their claims. Examples of the expenditure claimed by each authority include:

Birmingham City Council—£1,217,435—Includes grant to 219 businesses in the affected areas to help improve security measures. The other major element of expenditure is associated with the marketing and delivery costs of the backing Birmingham campaign. There was also support for business rate hardship relief. Overall, 900 businesses have benefited from the funding provided through the scheme.

The London Borough of Bromley—£14,198—Most of which relates to small grants to local shops to help with minor repair costs.

The London Borough of Camden—£174,277—The expenditure claimed largely relates to marketing and promotional activities to encourage local residents and visitors back into town centres.

The London Borough of Croydon—£1,376,951—245 individual businesses received grants to support their clean-up costs. Wider support for business was provided through nine local schemes and included security measures, communication support, free parking, business loans, promotional activities as part of the Croydon recovery action plan and improvement works around London Road designed to increase footfall in the area. There was also support through business rate hardship relief.

London Borough of Ealing—£429,901—61 individual local businesses received direct grants to help with repairs and minor losses. Wider business support included security measures, “shop local” marketing campaign and free parking initiatives. There was also support through business rate hardship relief.

London Borough of Enfield—£202,794—18 local businesses received direct grants. Wider business support was largely for marketing and promotional campaigns and business recovery advice.

London Borough of Greenwich—£833,315—65 local businesses received direct grants. The wider support for businesses was provided through eleven local projects targeted mainly at Greenwich, Eltham and Woolwich town centres and included retail support initiatives, environmental improvements and security measures and Woolwich town centre works to increase footfall. There was also support through business rate hardship relief.

London Borough of Haringey—£1,081,712—Over 300 local businesses were granted hardship relief from business rates and nearly two hundred received direct grants. The wider support for businesses was provided through 15 projects and included one off events and campaigns, assisted car parking initiatives marketing and communication and other services to the business community.

London Borough of Hackney—£176,145—The major element of the claim is for business hardship relief, which was provided to over two hundred businesses.

London Borough of Islington—£66,985—The major element of the claim is support to groups of businesses and promotional and marketing activity. It included an event to increase footfall in the “Nags Head” area in the run-up to Christmas.

London Borough of Lambeth—£74,860—The major element of the claim is support to groups of businesses and promotional and marketing activity. The funding supported special one off events in Brixton, Streatham and Norwood in the run-up to Christmas.

London Borough of Lewisham—£33,859—The major element of the claim is £26,000 for direct grants to nine individual businesses.

Liverpool City Council—£112,040—The major element of the claim is support to groups of businesses and promotional and marketing activity through seven projects.

Manchester City Council—£205,879—The major elements of the claim included business rate hardship relief for 85 businesses. Wider business support included funding support for a two-day street festival for 40 businesses around the commercial district and marketing material in support of the “I love Manchester” campaign.

Nottingham City Council—£6,124—This provided a direct grant to one local business and some advertising costs.

Salford City Council—£92,115—Nine local businesses received direct grants. The wider business support included security measures benefiting 80 businesses and support for an “open for business” retail festival.

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council—£44,301—The major element of the claim was for promotional and marketing activity.

London Borough of Southwark—£148,318—Thirty-two businesses received direct grant support and 27 received business rates hardship relief. There was also wider support for businesses through promotional and marketing activity.

London Borough of Sutton:—£71,410—The major element of the claim is for wider business support and included event funding for activities to increase footfall in the run-up to Christmas.

London Borough of Waltham Forest—£85,000—Which is all in respect of an “open for business” marketing campaign.

London Borough of Wandsworth—£737,674—The major element of the claim is £722,000 for wider business support and included: improvements to the commercial attractiveness of the area around Clapham Junction, assisted car parking initiatives, promotional events in the run-up to Christmas and various marketing and miscellaneous costs such as vinyl coverings for empty shops, signage and websites.

Westminster City Council—£30,998—The major element of the claim is for promotional and marketing activity for events based in Bayswater and Pimlico and a campaign to encourage people to “visit and shop”.

Wirral Council—£7,246—Which is all in respect of wider support to businesses. It is made up of works to make shopping areas more attractive and assisted car parking funding.

Wolverhampton City Council—£130,676—Fourteen businesses received direct grants. Wider support to business included event funding to increase footfall in the run-up to Christmas assisted car parking and other activities to rebuild business confidence.

Recovery Scheme

The recovery scheme was funded by DCLG to meet councils’ immediate costs of making their areas safe, clear and clean again. £2.9 million has been paid to 28 local authorities for their claims. Examples of expenditure for each local authority include:

The London Borough of Enfield—£122,029—The bulk of the expenditure relates to emergency repairs to roads and other structures and security.

Birmingham City Council—£91,649—The costs include emergency works to highways, clearing debris and staff overtime.

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham—£81,726—The expenditure being claimed relates to emergency repairs, demolition works and associated costs.

Liverpool City Council—£58,706—The expenditure being claimed relates to emergency road repairs and the clearing of debris.

London Borough of Greenwich—£34,204—The expenditure being claimed is for agency and staff overtime costs for cleaning and building security measures.

Medway Council—£11,687—The expenditure being claimed relates to additional staffing, overtime costs and waste removal.

Wolverhampton City Council—£11,078—The expenditure being claimed relates to street cleansing and minor emergency repairs.

Leicester City Council—£10,985—The expenditure being claimed relates to security measures and some minor emergency highway repairs.

Bristol City Council—£5,968—The expenditure being claimed relates to staff overtime costs for the clearance of debris and rubbish.

London Borough of Waltham Forest—£4,249—The expenditure being claimed relates to security measures and some very minor emergency repairs

London Borough of Sutton—£3,730—The expenditure being claimed relates to staff overtime costs around security issues.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service—£2,264—The expenditure relates to staff overtime costs.

London Borough of Croydon—£993,749—This includes funding for works to deal with dangerous structures, site clearance and emergency works to highways and footpaths, council tax discounts, street lighting and cleaning.

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority—£194,484—The majority of this claim is for staff overtime costs.

London Borough of Lambeth—£64,989—This relates to additional staff costs for youth custody services and the clearing of debris.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service—£33,143—In respect of overtime and incidental expenses.

Nottingham City Council—£28,482—For costs relating to overtime, cleaning and emergency control centre operations, legal costs and youth activities.

Salford City Council—£5,466—The expenditure relates to emergency repairs, street cleaning and staff overtime.

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority—£2,206—For overtime costs.

London Borough of Lewisham—£2,083—Relating to clearing debris.

London Borough of Haringey—£478,564—This includes emergency works to highways and street lighting, emergency building control and community centre set up costs.

London Borough of Southwark—£292,058—This includes emergency building repairs, staff overtime, community staff and street cleaning.

London Borough of Ealing—£142,548—The major eligible costs relate to emergency repairs to highways and a bridge.

London Borough of Wandsworth—£40,627—It largely relates to emergency works to secure dangerous buildings and overtime for employees.

London Borough of Redbridge—£23,589—It largely relates to street cleaning and removing debris.

Manchester City Council—£15,534—This expenditure relates to emergency traffic management costs and street clearance.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority—£12,646—The expenditure relates to minor vehicle repairs and staff overtime.

London Borough of Havering—£10,717—The expenditure being claimed largely relates to overtime and agency staff costs.

Homelessness Support Scheme

This scheme met the immediate costs of re-housing those made homeless by the disturbances up to a maximum payment threshold of £5,000 per household, with discretion applied for exceptional costs.

A total of £380,255 has been paid to the six councils that submitted claims. This figure included £35,000 for two caseworkers to work exclusively with displaced families in Haringey, to ensure they accessed the services to help them to start to resolve their housing issues and rebuild their lives.

New Homes Bonus

Over and above the commitments made on those three schemes. Ministers also want to ensure that the affected local councils do not lose out on the new homes bonus.

We are making payments of £175,118 to five local authorities in riot recovery grant to address losses in new homes bonus arising from the riots last summer. The payment will be made shortly.