Lancashire’s Growing Places
The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has today announced investment in economic development schemes that could deliver 3,000 new jobs as part of a £190m public/private investment package
This investment will boost a range of schemes using Lancashire's £13m allocation from the Growing Places Fund.
The fund is designed to make economic development schemes happen by tackling immediate infrastructure and site constraints to unlock jobs, development and housing growth. Money invested will be paid back to create a sustainable fund for investment in future schemes.
£7m has been approved for three Priority One schemes, which can access the fund immediately and pay back the money quickly.
These are:
* £4m for Luneside East – a development to build shops, offices, homes and leisure facilities at St George's Quay in Lancaster. Growing Places investment will enable land remediation to take place, preparing the site for building to begin.
* £2m for highways access and infrastructure on the Burnley Bridge Business Park.
* £1m to deliver access improvements to support the expansion of Edge Hill University in Ormskirk.
The £7m investment in these schemes will leverage approximately £95m of other investment. In addition it is anticipated they will generate 1,550 jobs and support the building of 557 new housing units.
A further £5.75m has been identified for three Priority Two schemes, which could access the funding in 2012/13, subject to providing further details.
These schemes, which would attract an additional £79m of investment and could generate 1,500 new jobs and 20 new homes, are:
* £3m for Lancaster Science Park, to improve highways access and infrastructure.
* £2m for the Slater's Terrace Development at the Weavers' Triangle in Burnley.
* £750,000 for site assembly at the Rossendale Valley Centre.
A further 12 schemes were identified as Priority Three, which means that they may potentially be able to access the GPF at a later stage. Approval for all schemes is subject to negotiating final terms.
Edwin Booth, chair of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: "We are one of the first LEPs in the country to agree a programme of such scale and impact, having moved very quickly to identify and approve the schemes that will benefit from the Growing Places Fund.
"This investment will make a real difference to people in Lancashire, creating tangible returns in the form of jobs, housing and economic growth."
Mike Appleton, LEP Champion for Strategic Developments and Inward Investment, said: "The most exciting thing about this fund is that it is not just one-off funding. Instead all money repaid will go straight back into the fund to be invested in new projects that can deliver new jobs and private investment. This fund will continue to boost economic growth well into the future."
The GPF is a £500m capital fund aimed at generating economic activity in the short term by addressing immediate infrastructure and site constraints, unlocking development and enabling the delivery of new jobs and housing.
The investment gives Local Enterprise Partnerships across the country the ability to manage the funding of infrastructure projects, including the flexibility to recycle funding for new projects as developments are completed.