Member Article

North West firms hungriest for Regional Growth Fund

Businesses in the North West were shown to have the largest appetite for a share of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) after the highest number of applications came from the region.

A total of 58 North West applicants went in for a share of £350m, made available to companies across the UK with expansion ambitions.

Companies in the region requested a total of £315m, while applicants in Yorkshire and Humber went for £239m and those in the South West requested £225m.

The North West took up 19% of the 309 applications made across the country, while the South East made up 13% followed by Yorkshire and Humber at 13%, and the West Midlands at 12%.

The lowest number of applications came from London, which made up just 2% of RGF applications, while the East of England made up just 4%.

Across all regions, companies asked for a total amount of £1.8bn.

In this fourth round of RGF funding, the Government will allocate money through the Independent Advisory Panel, which is chaired by Lord Heseltine.

Recommendations will be made by the panel to a Ministerial Group, led by Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

Final decisions on who receives funding will be made by Ministers, who are expected to announce their selections this summer.

Mr Clegg commented: “It is great to see so many proposals from companies that want money to move ahead and expand.

“As in previous rounds of the Regional Growth Fund, this is a competitive process and we will be analysing the proposals carefully before selecting the winning bids.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable added: “The high number of applications for the latest Regional Growth Fund round is really encouraging.

“This fund is creating large numbers of highly skilled and high quality jobs in firms and local communities across the country.

“The RGF is also supporting key sectors for our industrial strategy such as aerospace, agricultural technology, oil and gas, renewables, nuclear and automotive.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .