BUSINESSES in Liverpool which suffered damage in the August riots were given extra time to claim financial help yesterday.
The £20m High Street Support Scheme unveiled by David Cameron, to help firms “get back up and running quickly”, will remain open until early January.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said hundreds of businesses in the riot-torn cities had put in claims, but the original deadline of early November would be extended.
Mr Pickles told the Local Government Association conference in London: “Councils are handing out cash and I know many of you are signing cheques already.
“I do not want recovery money sitting around, I want it to be paid out. I want to see it in the bank accounts of small businesses, because they are the things which hold a community together.”
The money came on top of a £10m fund which helped councils clean up immediately after the riots.
