LLEP makes £144m bid to create 13,000 jobs
The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) has submitted a £144m bid for the Government’s Local Growth Fund.
The bid, for part of a nationwide £1.8bn pot, will create 13,000 jobs if successful, says the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).
The third round of Growth Deal project proposals include: National Space Park Phase 1 & 2 with associated infrastructure and facilities that will help to underpin delivery of over 700 new homes on the adjacent Wolsey Island residential site; the Loughborough Science & Enterprise Park (LSEP); the Harborough Innovation Centre extension – to build 20,000 sqft of ‘move-on’ space near to the successful Harborough Innovation Centre expecting net additional employment of 180 people and attracting 40 businesses after five years; the Logistics Institute of Technology (LIT) which will put education, training and research together at the centre of the Magna Park cluster with over 30 logistics businesses and 15,000 employees; and LE- NUCKLE Phase 3/Leicester Rail Station Gateway which will provide a £53m connection between the Leicester-Nuneaton and Nuneaton-Coventry lines, which were severed in 2004.
Since Growth Deals were first announced in July 2014, the LLEP has been allocated over £100m for the operating period 2015-2021 from rounds 1 and 2.
Nick Pulley, chair of the LLEP said: “The LLEP’s Growth Deal has been extremely successful for the Leicester and Leicestershire area. Delivery of our £100m Growth Deal programme started in 2014 on a wide range of projects including the regeneration of the Waterside area in the city, the improvements to the A50 and A6, a new Skills and Innovation Village at Leicester College, an innovative project to support the creation of an 18 mile mainline heritage railway at Grand Central Railway as well the redevelopment of Melton Mowbray Livestock Market to allow its continued operation over the next 20 years.
“The outcome of our third Growth Deal bid will be announced in the Autumn statement and it’s unlikely we will receive the full allocation we have bid for. However, our Growth Deal 3 proposal has been developed through a robust process that is open, transparent and evidence-based and we are confident that the proposal ensures that prosperity, growth and opportunity are distributed evenly across our city and county, supporting our urban and rural economies.”
An announcement about how much Leicester and Leicestershire might be allocated is anticipated to be in the Autumn Statement later this year.
