Ambitious firms urged to apply for latest £300m RGF share-out
FIRMS in the West Midlands are being invited to share in a £300m windfall as part of the latest round of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
So far £2.6bn has been allocated from the first four rounds of the fund, which has helped support 400 projects and programmes around the country. These have helped create and safeguard hundreds of thousands of jobs over the long-term and stimulate £14.7bn of private sector investment.
Round 5 will be open to private sector bidders seeking £1m or more. The government is calling for companies planning high quality projects that will generate significant private sector investment and sustainable jobs. Businesses will be able to submit their bids until midday on December 9.
New rules mean Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will no longer be required to make separate bids to the fund. The Department for Business Skills and Innovation (BIS) announced in September it would be making available an extra £100m for the Local Growth Fund in the period 2015-2017. This will provide extra flexibility to support priority schemes identified by LEPs in their Strategic Economic Plans.
BIS said LEPs still had an important role to play in RGF Round 5 by supporting or endorsing private sector bids they felt would help them achieve their priorities as well as deliver existing programmes.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “The economic recovery is starting to bloom – we’re seeing very encouraging signs that we are turning a crucial corner on our road to recovery. Home-grown and British-based businesses are leading that charge for a stronger economy. The Regional Growth Fund is a helping hand from the government, but I pay tribute to the people who are working hard to fuel our recovery.”
To help bidders on their applications, road shows and expression of interest days will be held throughout the country from today to provide advice on how to make a successful bid. The event in Birmingham takes place on November 14.
Round 6 of the RGF will be launched next summer so that any companies which are not ready to apply by December can start planning for applications in 2014.
Richard Halstead, Midlands Region Director at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said the announcement was a “positive evolution” for the RGF.
“It provides forward notice of the next two rounds which helps to align the fund to the long term investment decisions made by manufacturers. The Government has also accepted that Round 5 bids should be restricted to business-led projects. This sends a clear signal to Local Enterprise Partnerships that their focus should be on long term strategy, not short term projects or programmes,” he said.
Elsewhere, Lombard, the dedicated asset finance subsidiary of RBS, said it was reinforcing its commitment to supporting the growth of UK businesses by helping them access the £20bn of additional available funding recently announced by RBS.
Richard Hemsley, Lombard’s newly appointed managing director, said: “Lombard is 100% focused on providing the funding that businesses need to get back on their feet. The funding of capital investment is of fundamental importance at a time when we are seeing signs of improvements in the economy.”
