Peter Pawsey, Executive Chair of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, today urged the county’s business and property owners to apply for their share of the recently announced Redundant Buildings Grant Fund.
A fund of £1.5 million was announced in July by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, for the Worcestershire and Marches LEP regions. The scheme will see small businesses and start-ups in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin being offered assistance to bring unused buildings back to productive economic use. Grants do not apply for residential, agricultural or horticultural uses and cannot be applied to speculative developments.
Capital grant support of up to £50,000 per property is available up to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total capital project cost. It is estimated that nearly 50 businesses will benefit, creating more than 200 direct and 110 indirect jobs.
Peter Pawsey comments: “We are very keen that Worcestershire businesses benefit from the programme and urge interested parties to contact us for further information. We’re sure that there are many redundant or grossly underutilised buildings around the county which, with a little help from this Grant, could be brought back to life, so creating more jobs for the region. A similar scheme existed across the former Advantage West Midlands’ Rural Regeneration Zone which include Worcestershire. A total of 100 projects were supported over about 5 years, creating hundreds of new jobs. We are delighted to now be able to reinstate such an opportunity across Worcestershire.”