Humber LEP launches £6 million fund to kick-start developments

Jan. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- The first tranche of funding, which the LEP hopes to allocate within the first few months of this year, comes from a £5.8m allocation from the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Growing Places Fund.

LEP Chairman Lord Haskins has set up a task force to investigate how to attract more funding into the Fund, which will report to the LEP Board later this year.  One likely source is some of the millions of pounds of business rates that will be generated from the LEP’s two Enterprise Zones, which the LEP will retain for 25 years rather than hand over to the Treasury.  The Humber Infrastructure Fund could be one route for the LEP to spread the benefits of the Zones across the Humber by investing in other developments.

Examples of the types of project that could receive funding are:
•   Development of strategic link roads, roundabouts and access works to unlock development sites
•   Flood storage capacity to enable development of homes, employment and retail space
•   Works to improve local connectivity and reduce congestion through highways interventions, enabling developments to be taken forward sustainably

The LEP will expect proposals to create jobs and help to attract further investment, and will prioritise projects that already have planning permission and a level of funding in place so can be delivered quickly.  As well as the long term jobs that will be created, the LEP hopes that getting stalled developments back on track will support the local construction industry this year.

In most cases the LEP will expect its investments to be repaid over time so funds can be “recycled” to support other projects, but it may consider grants in exceptional circumstances.

Launching the fund, Lord Haskins of Skidby, Chairman of the Humber LEP, said:

“The Humber Infrastructure Fund offers a great opportunity for stalled developments to gain the kick-start they need. I certainly recognise the difficulty developers are having with raising bank funding, and it is something  I am very keen to address. There are many businesses in the Humber with good projects on hold, so I am very keen for the Humber LEP to use this Fund to help them get back on track and create jobs.”

Developers have until 10 February to submit initial expressions of interest.  For more information see www.humberlep.org or call 01482 611890.

Please see http://humberlep.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Growing-P... for the official propspectus

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The Humber LEP was one of 18 LEPs nationally to be awarded all of what it bid for through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills LEP Startup Fund. The £5m fund was made available for LEPs to use towards their startup and initial running costs, such as office rental, staff salaries and marketing. In order to bid, LEPs had to demonstrate local partners were also contributing and the LEP would be sustainable after the end of March 2012 – when the Government funding has to be spent by. The Humber LEP’s bid was made possible after 16 local businesses, Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, Humber Chemical Focus, the four Humber councils and the University of Hull each pledged £2,500 to get the LEP up and running. The level of support pledged from the private sector, which was gathered in less than a week after the LEP’s first Board meeting in June 2011, is thought to be amongst the highest in the country.