One off Flood Payment Scheme Opens for Businesses and Farms

The Department of the Environment has announced a one-off payment scheme of £1,000 for Tyrone businesses hit by recent winter flooding.

Business premises in Clady and the Linen Green in Moygashel were some of the worst hit over the period, however parts of Omagh and West Tyrone also experienced damage.

The payment will be open to small businesses, recreational and community facilities and places of worship that suffered severe inconvenience as a result of flooding during the period from November 7 2015 to January 31 2016.

The scheme is also available to farm businesses where land has been significantly affected as a result of sustained high levels on Lough Neagh during the same period.

Councils across the North have been tasked with administering the scheme on behalf of DOE. The £1,000 payment is a contribution towards practical assistance, and not a compensation payment.

Applications are open until Saturday April 30 2016.

Individual small businesses, recreational and community facilities and places of worship will be eligible for the £1,000 payment where the items would not typically be covered by insurance, and the small business employed less than 25 people at the time of the flooding incident. Businesses must also be able to demonstrate a remedial cost of at least £1,000, and that they were operating in rateable premises or premises exempt from rates.

In terms of farms around Lough Neagh, only farmland which is being actively farmed (i.e. included as part of the 2016 Single Application Form), will be eligible.

The farmland must have been under water for at least 14 days during the period between November 7 2015 and January 31 2016.

The applicant must also be able to show that flooding exceeded 10% or more of the total land actively farmed.

To apply or to seek more information in the Fermanagh and Omagh district area, contact Charlotte Daly on 0300 303 1777 (ext. 21185) or charlotte.daly@fermanaghomagh.com.

In the Mid Ulster area, visit midulstercouncil.org/floodingscheme or call the council’s Environmental Health service on 03000 132 132.

Source: ulsterherald.com