RGF supports jobs as millions pledged to West Midlands
THE Government has claimed more than 40,000 new jobs are to be created in the West Midlands through schemes benefiting from investment as part of its £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund.
The conditional winners in the RGF’s first bidding round are Alstom Grid UK in Stafford, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Worcester-based Bosch Thermotechnology, Jaguar Land Rover and national building heritage charity the Prince’s Regeneration Trust.
The quintet will all have to pass through a due diligence process before receiving any grants, with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills estimating they will together create 6,193 direct jobs and 34,669 indirect jobs.
More than £15m has been pledged to Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group – on behalf of Birmingham City Council – for work on the A45 Corridor Improvement close to Birmingham Airport.
Chamber chief executive Jerry Blackett said the money would be used to widen the dual carriageway into three lanes to facilitate the airport’s runway extension.
Improvements will also be made to Junction 6 of the M42 to improve the flow of traffic and long term, the movement of goods around the region.
It is anticipated if the scheme is given the go ahead by Government, it could be complete in around two years time.
Cllr Mike Whitby, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The £15.7m announced today for the upgrading of the A45 will bring significant transportation and economic benefits to the region and will also remove the constraint the current road alignment has on the proposed runway extension.
“I am pleased the government has recognised the importance of the growth of Birmingham and the West Midlands.”
The road improvements will also benefit new facilities at the NEC, which yesterday announced further plans for its new casino development.
Jaguar Land Rover will use the funds to undertake design engineering for a new family of engines and separately for a new small common vehicle platform for technologically advanced premium automotive vehicles in Whitley and Gaydon.
Ralf Speth, JLR chief executive, said the firm shared the Government’s ambitions for the UK to become the leading European high-technology export economy.
“We plan to grow our advanced engineering and manufacturing capability through strategic partnerships with UK suppliers and educational establishments,” he said.
“The programmes supported by the RGF are part of the largest single expansion of research and development capacity in the history of Jaguar Land Rover and will significantly boost the whole of the UK automotive supply chain. The programmes will utilise high-technology design, research and engineering to develop a new generation of lighter vehicles and highly efficient powertrains”.
Professor David Bailey, of Coventry Business School, said the award was significant and recognition of the Government’s intension to support the expansion of the manufacturing sector.
A new headquarters, manufacturing and R&D facility for Bosch Thermotechnology in Worcester is also seen as welcome support for manufacturing, as is the development of an engineering centre of excellence by Alstom Grid UK in Stafford for the development of key products for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) power transmission.
The region’s final award is to the Prince’s Regeneration Trust for the refurbishment of a listed building in Stoke-on-Trent to create industrial units to provide workshops, start-up space and visitor facilities.
The RGF aims to stimulate private sector led sustainable economic growth and employment in areas badly affected by public sector cutbacks.
As a whole, £450m has been allocated to companies across England, a rise on the original budget of £250m with just under £1bn due to be allocated from the second round of bidding which launches today.
The Regional Growth Fund is worth £1.4bn over three years and replaces money previously allocated to regional development agencies, such as Advantage West Midlands, which was worth £1.4bn a year.
