£9m boost for Leeds City Region businesses
Additional funding to the tune of £9m has been allocated to support businesses in the region to grow, innovate and boost productivity.
Businesses across the Leeds City Region will benefit from this investment, agreed by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee, as part of an overall £1bn-plus Growth Deal with Government to accelerate growth and job creation.
The investment targets the “priority sectors” of manufacturing, low carbon and environmental, financial and business services, digital and creative and health and life sciences.
This latest funding is on top of an existing £18m investment pot that will lead to the creation of over 4,000 jobs in the region, West Yorkshire Combined Authority said.
Grants of between £10,000 and £250,000 will be available to businesses across Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Wakefield, Selby and York and Leeds.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee said: “I am delighted this additional funding has been agreed that will boost growth, innovation and productivity across our region.
“We have so many innovative companies in our region making a significant contribution to prosperity and job creation. This new funding will boost the innovation capacity of our businesses yet further, supporting local partners’ ambition of making Leeds City Region the best place in the UK to innovate and grow your business.”
Roger Marsh, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Combined Authority Board Member, added: “This is great news for the region, its businesses and the economy. Supporting growing businesses is at the heart of the LEP and West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s work to transform the Leeds City Region economy and this funding will help us to build on the work already underway to create jobs, develop skills and drive productivity.”
460 businesses have been awarded grants so far as part of an overall £41m investment into businesses in the region.
Among the businesses benefiting from recent investment is Eric Richmond, an Ossett-based pie manufacturer that has received more than £32,000 in grant funding to help the business to grow.
Tom Martin, owner of the business, said: “The grant I received has allowed me to upgrade machinery and adapt the factory for greater efficiency. As a result I have been able to take on two new apprentices and created three new jobs for local people.”
Brewology, the Holbeck-based manufacturer of cask filling and cleaning systems for the brewing industry benefited from a grant to invest in hi-tech new machinery and production capacity.
Chairman and founding director David Midgley said: “We wanted to take advantage of the continuing boom in UK craft breweries and received a grant of £17,763 to buy new machinery. As a result, capacity has increased by 30% and we have employed two new members of staff.”
