Member Article

Yorkshire & Humber LEPs secure £122 million in second Growth Deal

Collectively, the five Yorkshire and Humber LEP’s have agreed £122 million in an expansion to their Growth Deals

• The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has secured a further £54.6 million in Growth Deal funding from government, after its record £1 billion Growth Deal. This could bring up to 10,000 jobs, 2,000 new homes and up to £640 million public and private sector investment to Leeds City Region.
• The Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership has agreed an expansion to its Growth Deal with the Government which will see an extra £30.7 million on top of £297.3 million invested in Sheffield City Region between 2016 and 2021.
• The York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP will see an extra £12.1 million invested in the YNYER area between 2016 and 2021. This is in addition to the £110.1 million in its original deal.
• The Humber Local Enterprise Partnership is set for an extra £9.9 million.
• The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership: £14.8 million invested in Greater Lincolnshire between 2016 and 2021.

Projects to benefit from this round of investment include an investment in Innovation and Enterprise centres at the Universities of Huddersfield and Leeds, forging links between business and universities, particularly in the health and medical, advanced manufacturing, and digital and creative sectors

Roger Marsh, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “This expansion of the £1 billion Growth Deal we secured last summer is further demonstration of the government’s confidence in Leeds City Region as an economic powerhouse-in-the- making, capable of generating extraordinary growth for the North and the nation, and transforming us into a net contributor to national wealth.

Barry Dodd CBE, Chairman of York, North Yorkshire & East Riding LEP said: “We welcome this investment from the Government into key projects within our LEP area.

“As a principally rural LEP with strong food and tourism sectors, it’s important that we have projects that can support the growing ambitions of our small businesses while opening up opportunities around agritech and biorenewables. Ultimately, this will create high quality jobs, additional housing and grow our economy”

The Prime Minister said: “Giving local communities the power and the money to unlock growth and development and make the spending decisions that work for them is a key part of our long-term economic plan to secure a brighter future for Britain and ensure a recovery for all.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said: “A quiet revolution is underway in the Leeds City Region area and across the country, as Growth Deals signal the death of the culture where Whitehall calls the shots.

“I’ve seen for myself the difference it makes to give Leeds more power over skills, over business support, over infrastructure spending.

“I am delighted to announce the expansion of the Leeds City Region Growth Deal today.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .