525 jobs to be created as Humber LEP secures £8m boost

Small and medium sized businesses in the Humber area are set to benefit from an £8m boost, provided by the Local Growth Fund.

The Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) secured the funding as part of its recent Growth Deal with Government.

The funding will be used to extend the LEP’s Growing the Humber grant programme, which has already supported more than 300 businesses with £25m in grants and generated almost £120m private investment.

Growing the Humber is designed to help businesses make capital investments which will lead to job creation. The programme has so far helped to create more than 1800 jobs with 540 due to be created in the near future.

The additional funding is set to lead to the creation of another 525 jobs in the Humber.

In Growing the Humber Round 3, small and medium businesses that have been trading for at least a year and are ready to grow can apply for a grant to support capital purchases.

Grant applications are assessed by an Investment Panel of private sector business leaders who between them have knowledge and skills of business management, finance, law and property.

David Kilburn of MKM Building Supplies and is chair of the panel, said: “Growing the Humber has already been successful in helping businesses of all shapes and sizes to make key investments that enable them to grow and employ more people.

“We are pleased that additional money from the Local Growth Fund allows us to continue providing support to businesses that promote economic growth for the Humber.”

Rob Daysley, managing director at Sport Identity, one of the businesses that has benefitted from funding, added: “The introduction of the new machinery has increased our workflow, reducing the ‘bottleneck’ in production and giving us the ability to produce more internally.

“The reduction in outsourcing gives us a further competitive edge in finding new customers and markets and also means that as the business is able to grow, more money will be retained within the local economy.”

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