A £5m fund has been set up to help businesses badly hit by two fires in Glasgow city centre
Economy secretary Derek Mackay confirmed the cash amid anger from business owners and residents shut out of a safety cordon around the site while the building is dismantled.
The fires at the Glasgow School of Art and Victoria's Nightclub have hurt dozens of traders in the area.
- READ MORE: Resident locked out after Art School fire says council is treating residents like 'the enemy'
It comes as work to fully reopen Renfield Street is set to get under way.
Work will begin on Thursday so that the cordon currently on Renfield Street is drawn back to the pedestrian precinct on Sauchiehall Street.
The Scottish Government said Glasgow City Council would be given the extra funding to distribute to businesses inside the cordon and those in the wider Sauchiehall Street area who could demonstrate hardship as a result of the fires.
The funding announced is for firms who can demonstrate hardship as a result of the fires.
Businesses within the Glasgow School of Art and Victoria's cordons will receive £20,000 of direct financial support, with other firms in the area impacted eligible for £10,000.
The move follows rates relief for affected businesses and grants of £3000 for affected residents.
- READ MORE: Resident locked out after Art School fire says council is treating residents like 'the enemy'
Mr Mackay said: "The terrible fires at the Glasgow School of Art and Victoria's are having a significant impact on many local businesses who are either closed or unable to access their premises.
"Given the scale of the on-going disruption, I am making up to £5m available immediately to support those businesses affected.
"The sheer scale and lasting effects of the fires on those involved are becoming clear and it is important that businesses are given financial support to help them through this very challenging time.
"This funding will also help minimise the impact on the economy of the city as everyone involved works to help businesses and residents return to their premises as quickly and safely as possible."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here