Good news at the double for Black Country firms

THE Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has submitted a bid for more than £9m to help create jobs and kick-start stalled developments.

The money is available through the government’s £500m Growing Places Fund and has been earmarked to the Black Country since the government’s announcement of the funding stream last month.

Stewart Towe, chair of the Black Country LEP, said: “This funding is excellent news for the Black Country as it will enable us to get schemes off the ground, which have been held up in the past. While we do not have an endless sum of money and we will clearly have to carefully prioritise where the money is invested, we are confident this funding will create a significant number of jobs along the way.”

Meanwhile, the region has been selected to take part in a national initiative to help medium-sized businesses grow. The Black Country LEP has been chosen to be part of a government pathfinder project looking at the issue. The project aims to strengthen business networks and leadership and management capability amongst medium-sized businesses.

The Black Country LEP will represent local firms by working with civil servants and the Confederation of British Industry, on a series of growth measures.

Medium-sized companies are defined as those with a sales turnover of  between £25m and £500m.