Traders can now apply for cost of shopfront canopies

A sign of how Covid-19 is affecting businesses is the fact that funding for canopies and overhead awnings on businesses will now be available under the Shop Front Enhancement Scheme.

The decision to broaden the scheme was taken at last month’s Economic Development, Enterprise and Tourism SPC meeting, where Marie McGovern of the Local Enterprise Office updated members on the funding uptake for the year 2020 to date.

Ms McGovern explained that a budget of €150,000 was allocated for the scheme last year, and although it was advertised via social media, newspaper adverts, in person and via flyers, there were only 61 applications, compared 98 applications at the end of 2019.

“The number of applications has been down on last year and business owners are reluctant to spend money on their premises due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid, but since the economy reopened, there has been a significant improvement in applications,” said Ms McGovern, who added that the scheme would be extended into 2021.

Ms McGovern said that eight applications had been refused because they sought funding for awnings, which are not covered by the scheme.

All councillors agreed that the scheme had proven successful, and Cllr Aengus O’Rourke asked that it be expanded to allow more business owners access to the funding.

Cllr John Dolan said it was an important scheme because “it gets money to where it’s needed”, while Cllr Bill Collentine said the difference the scheme has made to the shop fronts in Mullingar and other towns can be clearly seen. “What’s being done is certainly a big benefit to Mullingar,” he said.

Cllr Emily Wallace agreed that it had “made a huge improvement in towns and villages throughout the county.”

Mullingar Chamber president John Geoghegan said a number of retailers were keen to invest in awnings over shop fronts, while the chair of the SPC, Cllr John Shaw, said: “In the year retailers are after having, any extra assistance we can give them would be very welcome.”

The council’s director of services, Barry Kehoe, suggested one immediate change they could make in expanding the scheme would be to include funding for awnings and canopies.

“That is an a change we could make immediately, and it would be supportive of businesses who want to put some tables and chairs on the street, subject to licence, of course. Those fees have been waived for this year anyway,” said Mr Kehoe.

“Otherwise,” he said, “the eligible works included in the scheme are quite broad” and range from the repair and reinstatement of any shop front fixture that is visible from the street and the upper floors of a commercial building, to the reinstatement of architecture and historic features, repainting, repair or replacement of external stonework, removal and replacement of neon signs and banners, permanent removal of external security shutters and installation of suitable replacements.

Cllr Wallace asked what the implications were for installing canopies on shop fronts of historic buildings, and was told by Mr Kehoe that many of the shop fronts in town were protected structures.

“With every application we carry out a planning assessment and decide if we need to refer it to the planning office, who decide what is and isn’t appropriate. In some cases planning permission may be required,” he said.

The decision to include the cost of canopies and awnings in the Shop front Enhancement Scheme will be brought before the next meeting of Westmeath County Council for approval.