Businesses in Ledbury are being urged to apply for a share of almost £4 million of Covid relief funding.

Eligible businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation industry can apply for one-off grants of up to £6,000.

Funding is available immediately to support businesses in urgent need.

The money comes from the Government’s £785 million Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant package, which has been set aside to help UK businesses.

Herefordshire Council will manage Herefordshire’s allocation of £3,996,378.

The scheme is open for applications until February 28, 2022 and all payments under this and existing schemes will be completed by March 31, 2022.

Government has also confirmed the county will receive an additional £440,262 ‘top up’ to the additional restriction grant allocation (ARG).

These funds will provide up to £3,000 of support to smaller hospitality and leisure businesses without a rateable value, and to supply chain businesses that have also been affected.

Councillor Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for environment, economy and skills, said: “Many hospitality and leisure businesses have been seriously affected by the recent rise of Omicron, as people minimised their social contact over the Christmas period - a time of year when seasonal businesses would normally generate a large part of their income.

“And of course this has come on top of nearly two years of Covid-related disruption.

“So, I am very pleased that this new grant is now available to help businesses in the worst-affected sectors. I am sure it will provide much-needed assistance and Herefordshire Council is pulling out all the stops once again to get the funding out to businesses as quickly as possible.

“As we have been provided with a limited amount of funding, we aim to distribute it as widely and as fairly as possible to those that need it most.”

Full details, including eligibility criteria and how to apply for the grants, can be found at herefordshire.gov.uk/omicronsupport