The Town Council gives a “very positive” assessment of the aid to revitalise Castalla’s commerce

• The Consistory has distributed all of the 141,650 euros from the Generalitat and Diputación and has increased participation in the gift cards

Castalla Town Council has given a very positive assessment of the management of the three lines of aid it launched in July to revitalise local commerce. The Consistory has managed the aid from the Diputación de Alicante and the Plan Resistir II of the Generalitat Valenciana. The councillor for Finance, Gema Sánchez, declared that “we have fulfilled our objective of helping the people and businesses of Castalla in the many sectors affected by Covid-19. We are pleased to have distributed the full amount of this aid, which totals 141,650 euros”.

In total, 78 applications were received from SMEs, micro-SMEs, small self-employed entrepreneurs and professionals for the subsidy from the Diputación Provincial de Alicante. These grants, which had a maximum eligible amount of 3,000 euros, have improved participation compared to last year, when the entire budget was not awarded. Thus, in this call for applications, 100% of the 71,991.69 euros available under the heading has been distributed.

In relation to Plan Resistir II – which had the objective of distributing the money left over from Plan Resistir I – this line has also fulfilled its purpose. In this case, each beneficiary was eligible for a maximum of 2,000 euros. All in all, the Town Council has distributed the 69,661.76 euros it had available to inject money into local self-employed and micro-enterprises.

Gift card participation increases
The Consistory has also highlighted the increase in the participation of gift cards. This is a new initiative of the councils of Commerce and Tourism, which is being carried out for the second year in the city. In this edition, more than 540 of the town’s residents have applied for the document, which is a boost for the family economy. In 2020, 400 people benefited from the gift cards.

All this translates into an injection of 32,400 euros in the local establishments and shops, which means an increase in purchases in the municipality. In this sense, those who have applied for them can collect them from next Monday, 6 September, at the Tourism office and the municipal registry office during the usual opening hours.

The councillor for the Treasury stated that “the intention of the government team is to have all the calls for applications resolved by the end of September, so that the beneficiaries can collect the amount they are entitled to and improve their situation as soon as possible”.