This week has been a particularly positive week for residents of Bradwell North, and Great Yarmouth as a whole.
Budget 2021
Firstly, we had the ambitious budget delivered by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. This budget ensures that the vital support for families and businesses continues, with extensions to furlough, self-employed support, business grants, loans and VAT cuts – bringing the total of monetary support from the Government to over £407 billion.
Residents of Bradwell North may ask what the Budget actually gives us in Great Yarmouth?
The budget has delivered locally by giving Great Yarmouth:
- £20.1 million from the Towns Fund
- £150,000 from the Levelling Up Fund
- £20,000 from the UK Community Renewal Fund
This money will spread investment and opportunity across the borough of Great Yarmouth, helping businesses to grow, and improve access to skills, capital and ideas.
There is also the added continued support of:
- Extending furlough until the end of September
- Two further grants for the self-employed–and bringing in 19/20 starters
- Restart grants of up to £18,000 to get our retail, hospitality, leisure and personal care businesses going again
- Business rates holiday extended for 3 months, before tapering for another 9
- Extending the VAT cut to 5 per cent for a further six months, before tapering for another six
- Continuing our stamp duty cut for another three months, before tapering for another three
- Extending Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits by six months
- More money for apprenticeships and traineeships
- New Recovery Loans to replace our existing loan schemes
- £700 million for arts, culture and sports
- A brand new 95 per cent mortgage guarantee for prospective homebuyers
Vaccination Programme
The second piece of good news for residents is how the vaccination program is steam rolling ahead, both locally and nationally - with over 20 million people across the UK now having received their first dose, helping to cut infection rates and reduce the spread of the virus.
Locally in Norfolk and Waveney, from Sunday 28th February, 384,186 people received their first dose of vaccine. 13,840 people had also received their second dose; a figure which is expected to rise significantly in the coming weeks. In total, 98% of over 70's had received their first dose by the end of February, as well as 82% of 65-69 year olds.
Again since Sunday 28th February, 45% of adults in Norfolk and Waveney (those 16 and over) had received their first dose, putting us fifth out of the 42 health and care systems in England.
As the Prime Minister has set out, the ambition is now to offer a coronavirus vaccine to every adult in the country by the end of July.
Winter Gardens
The last piece of good new from this week is that Great Yarmouth Borough Council has now submitted the National Lottery Heritage Fund application for the Winter Gardens.
This is a project I am proud to be directly involved in, with a cross-party working group working hard to make sure this wonderful piece of architecture is saved for many years to come, turning it into a jewel in the crown of Great Yarmouth seafront.
The added extra which comes with this, as has happened now the new Marina Centre is being built, is that it attracts further investment from outside Great Yarmouth, meaning more money is pumped into the local economy; creating jobs, training and extra opportunities for local people.
A decision is expected on our application sometime in the summer.
I hope that residents of Bradwell North take heart from these good things happening in the borough, and see they are signs of better things to come when Great Yarmouth Builds Back Better from the pandemic.
