Regenerate Pennine Lancashire has brought £7.5m into Lancashire after their bid for the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) was successful, it was announced today.
The funding is set to:
¥ Create or safeguard 3792 direct jobs,
¥ Create or safeguard 2000 indirect jobs
¥ Lever in £31.4m private sector investment.
The Accelerating Business Growth in Lancashire (ABG) scheme is designed to meet the needs of local advanced manufacturing SMEs by offering them capital investment for expansion projects, including premises, plant and machinery. Participating companies are also expected to offer graduate internships, apprenticeships or adopt carbon and energy saving targets.
Regenerate Pennine Lancashire wrote the bid in partnership with the Pennine Lancashire Local Authorities and also brokered partnerships between LCDL, UCLAN Lancaster University and the Lancashire Chambers of Commerce, who will help to deliver the programme. Regenerate developed the bid after consulting with 200 high-growth businesses and recognising an identified need for growth assistance. Based on Regenerate’s research, ABG is unique to Lancashire and does not duplicate any national programmes. It will be delivered across the whole county, focussing on areas with a high concentration of manufacturers and public sector dependency.
Regenerate has successfully sourced over £10m over the past year to help Lancashire businesses start or grow, delivering the Lancashire Innovation Network scheme to help existing businesses grow through new technologies and developing the Pennine LEAP start-up scheme for a 2012 launch. Both schemes were made possible after successful bids by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
ABG is endorsed by the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership and will combine with its wider initiatives to promote manufacturing as a career choice.
Dennis Mendoros, Chairman of Regenerate and Managing Director of Euravia, said of the successful bid:
“This is great news for Lancashire business. By catering to a direct need within high-growth businesses, Regenerate can help them grow and increase their output so that they can compete on a national and international basis through export. Business growth will of course lead to the creation of new jobs and opportunities for people across Lancashire. This is a great achievement and I most sincerely congratulate the Managing Director and Staff of Regenerate for their success”.
Regenerate Managing Director Steve Hoyle said:
“The bidding round was highly competitive with only one in five bids being successful. This is our third successful bid in a row and shows the value that an experienced economic development company such as Regenerate Pennine Lancashire can bring to the county in terms of real jobs and investment.”
Blackburn with Darwen’s council leader, Cllr Kate Hollen, said: “This is welcome news for Pennine Lancashire, which has been hit hard by the economic downturn and cuts.
If we are to get the economy moving we need to invest in our manufacturing base which this programme promises to do by operating across the whole of Lancashire, focusing on areas with a high proportion of manufacturing industry.
Through working together across the public and private sector in Pennine Lancashire, as we have been doing with this bid we hope to be able to increase the number of jobs available in manufacturing which in turn will provide opportunity and access to new skills for people in this area.”
