Member Article

EU pledge £360m for North East

The North East is to receive one of the biggest EU regional funding allocations available to UK regions.

Over £360m in European Regional Competitiveness and Employment funding will support economic development in the region over the next seven years. This follows a major shake-up in the way the EU targets funding across the 25 Member States.

While the bulk of EU regional funding from 2007-2013 will now focus on states in Eastern Europe, €6.2bn will be available to UK regions to deliver European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF) programmes. There will be 12 ERDF programmes in the UK. The North East’s allocation is the highest per capita of any region, other than Northern Ireland.

Pat Ritchie, director of strategy and development, One NorthEast, explains: “We have known for some time that the way EU funding is to be awarded to established regions, like the North East, was changing and we have been preparing for this. “Money is still available to regions like the North East but Europe is placing a major emphasis on UK regions to deliver more ‘high-tech’ activities that will increase competitiveness, create jobs and drive productivity as part of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda.”

“The ERDF element of £224m awarded to the region for the period 2007-2013 will be administered by One NorthEast and we will be working closely with partners in local authorities, the North East Assembly, the Government Office for the North East, the region’s universities and the voluntary and community sectors to prioritise funding.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .