£1bn for North West LEPs
NEARLY £1bn of European money has been allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the North West for the next funding period which runs from 2014 to 2020.
This cash follows a commitment from Government to make a £10bn fund available to all 39 LEPs alongside a £5bn transport pot.
Cheshire & Warrington has received £122m; Cumbria: £78.4m; Greater Manchester: £356.5m; Lancashire: £228.5m; Liverpool City Region: £190m.
Christine Gaskell, chair of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP, said: “Government has demonstrated its confidence in the Cheshire and Warrington LEP by asking us to decide how significant amounts of European funding can be used to drive our economy further, faster.
“We will use this money in a targeted way to make sure that we do the things that are most important to Cheshire and Warrington and its economy. We know that our businesses want access to high quality support, a skilled workforce, finance, good quality sites, premises and transport, and European funding provides us with additional money to help deliver these things.”
She added: “This is a really important decision as it provides our private-sector led board with the opportunity to demonstrate that we understand our businesses and what needs to be done to make our economy even better. A very strong European Investment Strategy will demonstrate to the European Commission and Government that the Cheshire and Warrington LEP knows has the right skills and expertise to deliver economic growth.
The grant has come from €6.2bn pot from the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund.
