Ashcroft to lead final push for Green Investment Bank

THE leader of professional services group pro.manchester has been asked to lead a final push to bring the Green Investment Bank to Manchester.

John Ashcroft, who has transformed the organisation in the last two years, has been brought into the fold by city council chief Sir Howard Bernstein to drive the campaign forward.

Sir Howard is aware that there is a “head of steam” building in other cities such as Liverpool and Leeds, to be the home for the £3bn Green Investment Bank, which will be launched next April.

The bank will initially provide mezzanine finance to green technology schemes directly from government funds ahead of it raising its own funds by April 2015.

Economist Ashcroft, who has good contacts in London’s financial sector, will meet with Tim News, chief executive of MIDAS – the inward investment agency for the city region, and Mike Emmerich – from the economic development agency Manchester Enterprises, this week to decide the next step of the campaign.

Among the immediate targets will be to harness further support for the bank from Manchester’s business and financial sector, which is the largest outside London.

Also the trio will look to raise the profile of the city bid by hiring a PR/lobbying company to add further momentum.

Law firm Cobbetts is among the private sector partners involved in Manchester’s bid, as it has strong credentials in the clean-tech and energy sectors.