last week Lord Heseltine was in Preston, Lancashire promoting the second round of the Regional Growth Fund and encouraging bidders to compete for a share of £950m.
The Regional Growth Fund has been designed to:
- Provide support for projects that can drive sustainable economic growth and create new private sector jobs;
and
- Help communities that are dependent on the public sector make the transition to private sector-led growth and prosperity.
Lord Heseltine is Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel, which will consider all bids for funding and make recommendations to Ministers, led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, about which should be supported.
Lord Heseltine said:
“The Regional Growth Fund was exceptionally popular in the first round, and we received many bids that demonstrated strategic thinking on how to create jobs and contribute to local economies.
“I hope businesses and public-private partnerships are inspired to think about innovative and creative ways of making a difference to growth and shaping their economic future, and that we will see results of this thinking when we are assessing bids.
The second round of the Regional Growth Fund opened to bids on April 12 and will close at midday on July 1. It will aim to allocate around £950m – the bulk of the £1.4bn fund.
Ministers announced in April that there were 50 successful bidders from the first round of the Regional Growth Fund. These bidders will share £450m if they pass a process of due diligence.
Chris Collins
Yes Minister Business Development Manager