HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds is being given to business organisations by BCP Council in its latest round of pandemic recovery funding.

On Monday the council confirmed the recipients of £700,000 awarded through the government’s discretionary grants.

Councillor Phil Broadhead, its cabinet member for regeneration, said the money would help the area “leap – rather than limp – out of lockdown”.

The funding has come through the Additional Restrictions Grant aimed at supporting businesses that have not met the criteria for other forms of support.

BCP Council was awarded £4.5 million in the latest round of the fund which was split to cover various bodies.

It has now confirmed the recipients of the first of these with the confirmation of £700,000 for “business support organisations”, which includes the area’s business improvement districts (BIDs).

Among those to have been allocated a share of this is Silicon South and Citizen’s Advice which will create a new online support service.

Bournemouth Town Centre BID has been given money to boost its crime prevention efforts while the Coastal BID has had its plans to buy an electric van to support its businesses approved.

Poole BID will use its share to help fund its planned seafood festival and new pop-up markets aimed at encouraging more people into the area.

And Christchurch Chamber of Trade and Commerce has been given funding for a research project focussed on ways to increase town centre footfall.

Cllr Broadhead said the council’s approach had been “unique” by inviting organisations to put forward projects for funding.

“We took the decision to focus on what’s coming next,” he said. “We wanted to focus on the future and less about just paying bills.

“Some really amazing projects have been put forward which will be far more beneficial to our area and help us leap – rather than limp – out of lockdown.”

He said the outcome of the Bounce Back fund grants process would be announced “in the next few weeks”.

More than 250 applications were made through this share of the government grant which will see businesses awarded up to £70,000 for projects.

Cllr Broadhead added that a further round of funding this summer was “very likely”.