£1.1bn for North West in Growth Deal
THE Government has committed £1.1bn to the North West in its Growth Deal designed to spur on regional economies by devolving cash.
Under the arrangement £10bn will be committed to the regions over the next five years. It follows Michael Heseltine’s 2012 call for £48bn to be devolved to the country’s local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).
The allocation to the North West’s five LEPs – which bid for and administer the cash – includes confirmed funding for 2015-16 and an “indicative award ” for 2016-17 onwards.
According to the Government this will help create nearly 50,000 jobs across the region and pull in a further £350m from the private and public sectors.
Greater Manchester secured £476.7m, Liverpool £232m, Lancashire £234m, Cumbria £26.8m, and Cheshire and Warrington £142.7m. But of the £1.1bn total, just £330m has been confirmed for 2015-16, with the remainder classified as indicative.
This is around the same as the annual budget of the now defunct North West Development Agency which was closed down and replaced by the LEPs, along with the England’s other development agencies, by the coaltion government.
The projects being supported focus on transport improvements to open up land for housing and employment, and skills. They include:
• Over £50m of investment in transport connections into and within Liverpool City Centre, helping to connect the north of the city and the waterfront.
• Major investment in public transport and roads around Greater Manchester, including 12 new Metrolink trams, a new Quality Bus Network Route 8 from Bolton to Manchester, new transport interchanges in Ashton and Stockport town centres
• A Life Science Investment Fund to give local authorities and businesses the power to invest in life sciences across the North West and to support the transition of AstraZeneca’s former research base Alderley Park into a bioscience cluster.
• Blackburn to Bolton Rail Corridor improvements to increase train frequencies between Darwen, Blackburn, Ribble Valley and Manchester.
• Supporting the creation of the Nuclear Technology Innovation Gateway in Cumbria, an innovation and support centre for the nuclear industry bringing together the National Nuclear Laboratory, research activities from the University of Manchester and other facilities.
• Chester Central – Inner ring road junction and bus improvements including a new bus interchange to free-up capacity and open up development sites to accommodate city centre growth.
• Improvements at junction 8 of the M62 for the Omega development at Warrington, and a new swing bridge over the River Mersey from Chester Road that would eventually link up with Sankey Way.
In a statement prime minister David Cameron said: “Growth Deals are a crucial part of our long-term plan to secure Britain’s future. For too long our economy has been too London-focused and too centralised.
“Growth Deals will help change all that. They are about firing up our great towns and cities, boosting local economies and driving growth across the country.”
Robert Hough, chair of the Liverpool LEP, said: “The fund was three times oversubscribed so to get £230m is a pleasing outcome. That was against an original ask of £250m.”
Mike Blackburn, chair of the Greater Manchester LEP, said: “This is a welcome boost for Greater Manchester with the secured funding enabling delivery of a range of projects that will keep our strategic aims firmly in sight.
“We particularly welcome the superb news that all current major transport schemes are now secured in terms of present funding requirements, bringing huge improvements to transport connectivity within Greater Manchester and beyond.”
Those projects in full:
Liverpool
• A £47.7m package of improvements for six colleges – equipment and facilities improved at six city region colleges to ensure that young people are properly trained for the jobs of tomorrow
• Over £50m of investment in key transport connections into and within Liverpool City Centre, revitalising the north of the city and better connecting Liverpool’s iconic waterfront to the city centre
• A reshaped Liverpool Skills for Growth Bank – £4.64m over three years (2015/16 to 2017/18) to co-invest in a reshaped Liverpool Skills for Growth Bank which will support employers who are willing to invest in training to source high quality training provision and to grow the skills base in the city region, building on this successful City Deal programme.
• Government will work with Liverpool City Region to develop a payment by results pilot with the aim of better aligning skills provision with locally determined, business driven outcomes.
• Committing to a second International Festival of Business in 2016;
• Knowsley Industrial Park – access improvements to one of Europe’s largest industrial parks, which together are expected to create thousands of jobs
• A new low carbon fund for colleges – to encourage energy efficiencies in colleges
• Improvements to the A5300 Knowsley Expressway to maximise the benefits of the New Mersey crossing and access to Liverpool Airport;
• Improving the Newton-le-Willows interchange, creating a fully accessible station and transport hub;
• Reopening the Halton Curve rail line to improve connectivity across the region;
• Improvements to M58 junctions, increasing capacity and access for the city region;
• Development of a new station at Maghull North, improving transport across north Liverpool;
• A package of sustainable transport improvements across the city region, with a Government investment of £41.4m over six years;
• £550k funding for improving business support coordination, so that it joins up national, local, public and private support and creates a seamless customer experience for businesses, which makes it easy for them to get the right support at the right time.
Manchester
• Reforming public services so they are built around the needs of residents including:
o Improving the provision of apprenticeships in Greater Manchester by increasing the involvement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
o New targeted health and employment support for residents with mental health conditions.
o Greater control over the Adult Skills Budget to provide access the courses to help secure good jobs.
• Life Science Investment Fund – giving local authorities and businesses the power to invest in life sciences across the North West and, crucially, supporting Alderley Park’s emergence as a bioscience cluster.
• Metrolink Improvement Programme – acquiring 12 additional trams for the Metrolink network to provide additional capacity.
• Route 8 Quality Bus Network – from Bolton to Manchester, improvements include new bus lanes, bus shelters and a new 1km busway on disused railway between Walkden and the A580.
• Stockport Interchange – renovating the links between bus and rail stations to create a better environment.
• Ashton Town Centre interchange – replacing the current interchange with a new integrated transport interchange for both bus and Metrolink services.
• Business Support Investment – supporting Business Support services available through the Business Growth Hub.
• Salford City College – a creative and digital media centre will be built to provied traineeships, apprenticeships, other skills and management training.
• Tameside College – providing specialist advanced manufacturing equipment for the new Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Centre, which will help the businesses there to grow and create more jobs.
• Tameside College: supporting the establishment of new leisure and tourism and business & management facilities to train people so they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by a growing economy.
• Economic Solutions – supporting the relocation of two existing training centres (Salford and Wigan), the refurbishment of a further seven existing training centres and the enhancement of the Greater Manchester Skill Centre equipment (covering craft and mechanical, engineering and automotive skills).
• Mantra Learning – the development of a real process manufacturing facility for training purposes, which will give people the specialist skills they need to work in manufacturing.
• Wigan & Leigh College – a broader range of further education courses will be made available to meet the demands of local people.
• Stockport College – the Growth Deal will allow for the building of a new Civil Engineering & Groundworks Centre to provide specialist training.
• Stockport Town Centre transport scheme – providing road improvements on the A6, a new link road, bus improvements, improved access to cycle and pedestrian links and improved access to bus and train stations
• Minor Transport Schemes Programme across Greater Manchester that will improve junctions; cycle and bus facilities; and pedestrian facilities.
Lancashire
• Blackburn to Bolton Rail Corridor – Project will deliver line improvements to increase train frequency between Darwen, Blackburn, Ribble Valley and Manchester.
• Burnley – Pendle Growth Corridor – project targets junction improvements and other transport improvements to release additional site capacity, and enable quicker movement of goods, services.
• M55 to St Anne’s Link Road – will provide a new road connecting the south of Blackpool to the north of St Annes, having a positive impact upon future employment sites (including Whitehills and Blackpool Airport), new housing growth (Heyhouses) and upon tourism, including future hosting of the R&A Open Golf Championships.
• Further Education Skills capital investment – programme of investment in Energy and Engineering facilities, estate renewal of poor quality college accommodation.
• Lancaster Health Innovation Park – will establish new facilities and a test space for companies carrying out product and service development in collaboration with the university and healthcare bodies.
• Blackpool Integrated Traffic Management – project will provide an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to improve traffic management on the promenade.
• Blackpool Bridges Maintenance – will repair 11 defective bridge structures across Blackpool which are either failing or have restrictions placed on them.
• Blackpool Heritage Visitor Attraction – project will create a new tourist attraction based around Blackpool’s resort heritage, proposed for the Winter Gardens.
• Blackburn Town Centre Improvements – This project comprises a range of small interventions linked to the Blackburn Town Centre Transport Strategy, and will underpin existing town centre developments including the Cathedral Quarter and the Freckleton Street Knowledge Zone.
• Burnley – Centenary Way Viaduct Maintenance – The project will bring about maintenance and repairs to this key bridge structure in Burnley, enabling it to operate to full capacity and support town centre growth.
• Preston City Centre – the extension of the Fishergate public realm improvements from their current point to the bus station, integrating the city’s two public transport hubs and supporting future development and modernisation of both the rail and bus stations.
• East Lancashire Cycle Network – enables better cycle access between major residential areas and places of employment.
Cumbria
• An Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre at Furness College.
• A package of measures to optimise connectivity within Cumbria, particularly improving public transport links between Kendal and Keswick.
• The remediation and improvement of the Barrow Waterfront site, enabling growth in this key centre of manufacturing.
• Transport improvements in and around Kendal facilitating housing development and business growth.
• Improved access to South Ulverston to support the expansion of GlaxoSmithKline and housing development.
• Supporting the creation of the Nuclear Technology Innovation Gateway, an innovation and support centre for the nuclear industry bringing together the National Nuclear Laboratory, research activities from the University of Manchester and other facilities.
• Access improvements to the Durranhill Industrial Estate in Carlisle to enable business expansion and the revitalising of this enterprise asset.
Cheshire and Warrington
• Chester Central – Inner ring road junction improvements and bus improvements including a new bus interchange to free up capacity and open up development sites to accommodate city centre growth.
• Omega Birchwood transport improvements – enables use of sites and land in the Birchwood employment area of North East Warrington, currently hampered by congestion.
• Life Science Investment Fund – A Revolving Investment Fund to support growth in the life science business cluster in Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Although not exclusively focused on the AstraZeneca Alderley Park campus, the Fund will be instrumental in encouraging new start-ups and spin outs following AstraZeneca’s departure to Cambridge by 2016.
• Thornton Energy Demonstrator – Establishment of an energy systems demonstrator site, building on the significant national assets left by Shell to the University of Chester, that enables energy companies to test at scale new power saving and distribution technologies.
• Skills Capital – to address skills needs in engineering, energy, logistics, manufacturing, agri-tech & sports science.
• Housing – The Government will increase the Housing Revenue Account borrowing limit for Cheshire West and Chester Council by £7.5m to help support the development of new affordable homes.
• HCA Land assets at Warrington South: Better alignment of the use of Homes and Communities Agency owned land in Warrington South (50 hectares) to support Warrington’s growth objectives.
• West Warrington, Omega, M62 Junction 8 – Motorway junction improvements and revised connections to local road and motorway sliproad, allowing for improved access and less congestion to the Omega development sites for employment and housing.
• Warrington Waterfront/ Swing bridge – A new bridge crossing over the River Mersey and improved route from there to Slutchers Lane at the Southern end of the town centre and road changes in the Palmyra Cultural Quarter of the town centre itself.
• Poynton Relief Road – a 3km relief road, reducing traffic congestion in Poynton.
• Congleton Link Road – 5.5km single carriageway road between the A534 Sandbach Road and the A536 Macclesfield Road, with links to the existing Radnor Park trading estate and the Congleton business park. It will include a new 80m bridge across the River Dane, and combined footway and cycleway on one side of the road.
