Yorkshire economy set for £100m injection
BUSINESSES and local enterprise partnerships in Yorkshire have won more than £100m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to help create thousands of jobs.
The bulk of the money will be shared by the local enterprise partnerships covering the Humber and the Leeds and Sheffield City Regions to spend on a range of activities designed to boost the local economy.
In addition, 10 companies and Leeds City Council will together receive £26m to spend on specific projects in Yorkshire that promise to create or safeguard more than 4,000 jobs and unlock £953m of private sector investment.
The University of Sheffield will be handed £10m to lead a national scheme.
The successful companies are:
AESSEAL PLC
ATB Morley Ltd
BorgWarner Ltd
Cementation Skanska Limited
DePuy International Ltd
Harvard Engineering
Hydra-Valve Advanced Valve & Pipeline Solutions Ltd
J H Fenner & Co Ltd
Koyo Bearings (Europe) Limited
Leeds City Council
Redirack Ltd
In all, the Government is today handing out £1bn from the Regional Growth Fund which was created by the Coalition to try and kickstart the economy in areas previously heavily dependent on the public sector for jobs.
Ministers have also announced a faster process for securing RGF money after criticism that cash announced in previous rounds has taken too long to reach companies and organisations.
Business Minister Michael Fallon said: “Round three created a lot of high-quality demand for the fund which made the decision process very tough. However the selected bidders represent a good breadth of different sectors and a strong distribution across the country.
“The selection process has been very fast – from companies applying to allocating funds in only five months. So we are keen to get a move on which is why this time, those selected have now only three months to agree final offers, and three months to complete due diligence. We want to ensure good value for the taxpayer and to get these projects started as soon as possible.”
On a visit to Liverpool, Business Secretary Vince Cable said the Government was open to expanding the Regional Growth Fund further.
He told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We don’t need a fourth round at the moment as it will take some time for this latest round to come through, but we’ve got an open mind as to whether the programme should continue, we’ll see over the next couple of months.”
He added: “There are still some very serious problems in the economy – we’ve not had growth for quite a long time, serious problems remain in the banks, in our main export market. Our great strength though is that we are financially stable and the employment position has held up remarkably well.”
Asked about Labour’s criticism over the impact of RGF on delivering jobs and economic growth, he said: “I think the criticsm misses the point somewhat, these are predominantly private enterprises, and while there have been some delays, which is inevitable ion a programme of this size, for ever £1 of money we’re putting in it’s leveraging £6 of private sector investment.”
