The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and its Local Authority partners have now fully contracted their £10million Business Growth Grant programme, assisting over 50 local businesses to expand and creating over 1,000 new jobs in the City Region over the next two years.
The programme, for which the LEP in partnership with the six Local Authorities of the City Region secured support from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), was open to bids from local and inward investing businesses to fund a range of capital investment projects.
Grants ranging in size from £1,000,000 to £10,000 have leveraged a further £55million in private sector investment funding projects as diverse as expanded production facilities, software upgrades and the purchase of new machinery.
The 53 companies benefitting from the grants were drawn from a range of sectors across the City Region including aerospace, automotive and food production.
So far 350 new jobs have been created and a further 550 existing jobs secured as a direct result of the grants and subsequent private sector investment . A further 700 new and safeguarded jobs will be added to these over the next 2 years as the supported businesses achieve their projected growth targets.
Chair of the Liverpool City Region LEP, Robert Hough said: “The essential element of Growth Grant bids was that they should either secure or generate new jobs in the City Region. Supplementary to that objective is to support local businesses to make significant investment decisions which will sustain their growth for the coming months and years.
“With the completion of the programme, we can see the evidence from the effort which has been put in and the effect the programme has had on the operations of the businesses in question.
“The LEP exists to support business and to champion their needs. It is therefore very pleasing to report such strong direct proof the programme has had for our local businesses.”
An additional £5m RGF of funding has also been allocated which will be fully contracted in October 2015, resulting in the creation or safeguarding of a further 1,000 jobs in the City Region.
Business Growth Grants were available to fund between 10 and 20 per cent of a project and could include capital expenditure such as new plant, equipment, buildings, or adaptations; investment in new technologies; systems and software.