West Midlands LEPs make strong bids for RGF

THE West Midlands made the second highest number of bids during the first round of submissions to the Government’s new Regional Growth Fund, latest figures show.

Out of the 464 bids submitted in total, 74 (16%) were attributable to Local Enterprise Partnerships based in the region, data from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) shows.

In all, the bids totalled £2.78bn – virtually double the £1.4bn which is actually available and the independent advisory panel will have its work cut out assessing which bids are likely to be successful.

The vast majority (81%) of the bids are in the £1-£10m bracket with just 6% asking for £20m and above.

Not all of the £1.4bn is available in the first round of bidding. It is thought BIS will have somewhere between £250 – £300m at its disposal so there is likely to be a lot of soul searching to determine which projects best meet the bidding criteria.

Those which offer strong job creation potential and can deliver immediate economic growth are likely to receive priority.

Within the West Midlands, the largest number of bids have been submitted from within the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, which also covers southern Staffordshire and Bromsgrove. The bids include a £22m submission from St Modwen for the redevelopment of Longbridge plus a package of transport infrastructure improvements connected with the extension of the runway at Birmingham Airport.

The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP accounts for 15 bids, one of which includes £8m for a new media centre in Stoke, while Coventry and Warwickshire LEP submitted 12 applications.

Next comes the Black Country with 10 bids, one of which includes a £5.88m application for reclamation of the former IMI Copper Works in Walsall.

The Marches LEP – which covers Shropshire and Herefordshire – and the partnership for Worcestershire have each submitted eight bids. Included in these is a £5.8m bid for the Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre, £20m for a new link road in Hereford and a proposal for Worcester Technology Park.

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