Government announces 50 successful bids from first round of regional funding

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has launched the £450m first round of winners of the newly formed Regional Growth Fund, designed to replace axed Regional Development Agency funding.

The government has chosen to fund 50 projects, in a bidding process advised by former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine. Bids for the second round will begin today, with the total fund worth £1.4bn.

Projects selected include:

  • A commercial development by Morgan Sindall subsidiary Muse in Ashton Moss which requires significant site remediation to proceed
  • The construction of a link road to facilitate wider housing, industrial and commercial development south of Doncaster and Sheffield, known as the Sheffield Gateway
  • Construction of a manufacturing plant on the Lotte Chemical site in Teesside to develop resins for food and drink packaging;
  • Development of a new factory, R&D laboratory and HQ office facility for Holroyd Precision Ltd in Rochdale.

The government said the investment would see 27,000 jobs created and leverage more than £2.5bn of private sector investment.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said: ”I was bowled over by the quality of the bids. This money will now help create and safeguard jobs in some of the communities worst hit by the economic downturn.”

Vince Cable, business secretary, said: “The Regional Growth Fund is a competitive fund and we wanted to see proposals that created jobs in the private sector, in areas of deprivation and that is at risk of suffering from public sector cuts. I’m confident that the successful bids we have chosen will deliver on this.”

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