28/01/13

Growth Call for Lancashire Businesses

Lancashire County Council is encouraging larger businesses to apply for funding from the Regional Growth Fund.

The government has recently announced the latest round of the £2.6bn fund, which supports projects and programmes that bring in private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment.

The first 3 rounds allocated £2.4 billion which will bring in over £13 billion of private sector investment and create or safeguard over 500,000 jobs. Round 4 is now open for applications and will allocate a further £350m.

The RGF is a flexible and competitive fund, with bidders able to submit bids either as a project or a programme. It has a minimum bid threshold of £1 ! million.

Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council, said:

"Driving economic growth and creating jobs are key priorities for us as a county council. The difficulty of securing finance can act as a brake on growth which is why we support local businesses through Rosebud Business Solutions and our innovative partnership with peer-to-peer funders Funding Circle. We are also working with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership to administer funding opportunities such as the Growing Places Fund. It is crucial that Lancashire's businesses take advantage of all sources of funding so I would urge them to look into the opportunities provided by the Regional Growth Fund."

Edwin Booth, chair of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: "Previous rounds of the Regional Growth Fund have seen £28 million allocated to eight Lancashire projects, so this is a proven source of funding for the county's busines! ses. We need to take advantage of every opportunity to boost growth i n the county and I would encourage our business community to find out more about the Fund."

The deadline for applications is 20 March 2013. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/UUVxtI 

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