Pennine Lancashire body bids for RGF cash

REGENERATE Pennine Lancashire, the economic development body responsible for East Lancashire, has submitted a £7.5m regional growth fund bid to fund its Accelerate Business Growth Programme.

The organisation, which restructured tearlier this year following the loss of Housing Market Renewal and Local Economic Growth Initiative (LEGI) funding, said that the bid was submitted in partnership with Lancashire’s LEP and its local authorities in a bid to maintain some of its business support programmes.

Funding cuts have forcved the organisation to narrow its remit from a broader regeneration brief to a more marrow economic development one.

However, it said that during the first quarter of this year it managed to create of safeguard 284 jobs in the region and provided one-to-one support for 118 businesses.

The organisation said that it had also attracted £9.8m of private sector investment to the area.

Steve Hoyle, managing director of Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, said: “We are delighted with the results during the first quarter and the figures clearly show the impact that we are having on the local economy but we are not complacent. There is still so much to do.

“As well as helping business start ups, we are also helping high growth businesses accelerate the unlocking of their potential in terms of expanding premises and bringing new product lines into the market.”