Council to launch £2m ‘corridor fund’
MANCHESTER City Council is planning to use a £2m grant earmarked for Bruntwood’s Citylabs scheme as a fund to support science-related enterprise along the Oxford Road corridor.
An agenda document for today’s council executive meeting details the plan for a “Corridor Fund” which will offer grants of up to £170,000 to support research and development.
Manchester landlord Bruntwood originally secured the cash in 2011 from the first round of the government’s Regional Growth Fund for its conversion of the former Royal Eye Hospital into a biomedical centre called Citylabs.
According to the document the money was to be used “to assist businesses wishing to occupy space”, but the government then said a direct contract with Bruntwood breached state aid rules and asked the city council to be accountable for the cash.
It will now run the fund until 2015 and expects it to create 100 jobs. The council document says: “The scheme will make a significant contribution to the growth of the Manchester economy and will enable businesses to grow and improve not only the performance of the Manchester economy within an important area of the city but also the regional economy.”
Citylabs, which has since secured the support of the North West Evergreen Fund, is due to open next year and promises to generate 440 jobs and add £60m a year to the city’s economy.
