Councils among successful bidders to Regional Growth Fund

12 Apr 11
Two local authorities are among 50 organisations awarded grants from the government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund
By Mark Smulian

12 April 2011

Two local authorities are among 50 organisations awarded grants from the government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund.

A total of £450m has been distributed in the fund’s first round, which Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said would create 100,000 jobs. Some 27,000 would be created directly and the rest through supply chains and the stimulus to local economies. The funding is expected to attract some £2.5bn of private sector investment.

Clegg said: ‘Today is a step towards rebalancing our economy away from an unhealthy overreliance on a small number of industries and a few areas.’

All but five awards have been made in the Midlands and the North.

The Association of Community Development Finance Institutions has received £60m from the fund to lend on across England to businesses, social enterprises and individuals that might otherwise struggle to get finance from conventional sources.

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council will receive £18m to build a link road from Robin Hood Airport to the M18, opening an area for development of business parks.

Wakefield City Council will use its £8.1m award to provide access roads and green infrastructure to regeneration areas where 818 new homes are due to built.

Two other councils were awarded funds in partnerships. Developer Bruntwood and Manchester City Council received £21m towards a project to turn a former eye hospital into a biomedical research centre.

Birmingham City Council, together with the city’s chamber of commerce, transport authority Centro and Birmingham Airport, was given £15.7m to widen the A45 road.

A second round of bids for support from the remainder of the fund closes on 1 July.

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