The borough council's welcomed the launch of the Small Business Grant Support Scheme.It said: “We are working hard to help the local economy and welcome news that Government has allocated £1.075m to help us set up a new grant scheme for small businesses.“The Government backed scheme is aimed at small businesses who are not eligible for existing grant funding and which have relatively high ongoing fixed property related costs and can demonstrate that they have suffered a significant fall in income due to the COVID-19 crisis.”Its guidance asks local councils to prioritise the following types of businesses under the scheme:- Charity properties

- Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces.- Regular market traders- Bed & Breakfasts which pay Council Tax instead of business ratesCouncillor Adam Yates, portfolio holder for Resources and Transformation, said: "We are pleased to have been able to support over 1,600 businesses across West Lancashire under the existing grant funding schemes.

"This new scheme will allow us to support many more small businesses that may have missed out in the earlier funding programmes.

"If you run a local business that was not eligible for the previous grants, please check the Council website for guidance on eligibility and how to apply for this new scheme."Detailed guidance and an application form can be found at https://www.westlancs.gov.uk/covid19businesssupport.The Government has stated it that they expect payments of up to £10k will be appropriate in most cases; only businesses trading on March 11, 2020 will be eligible.