Sheffield Chamber of Commerce has congratulated the City Region’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for delivering on funding for small and medium sized enterprises.
The LEP successfully secured £32m Regional Growth Fund (RGF) money as part of its Unlocking Business Investment initiative.
It received hundreds of bids from companies wanting to access the finance available to support more than 110 schemes across Sheffield City Region. The successful schemes are projected to generate £192m in private sector leverage and create 3,300 jobs over the next two years.
By the end of the first quarter in 2014, the LEP has already paid out more than £12m to businesses.
Richard Wright, executive director of Sheffield Chamber said: “RGF is usually difficult for SME’s to access because it works best for large projects. However the LEP scheme has made it more accessible to businesses of all sizes.
“The job stats projected are well ahead of the national programme and with a further £10m of funding at various stages of appraisal, the pipeline is extremely strong.”
David Grey, LEP board member and Chair of OSL Group, added “I think this represents a massive effort and success on behalf of the LEP, the panel, the accountable body and local authority partners.
“This is not only our view, the Department for Communities and Local Government has made it clear that in terms of promoting the opportunity, its process, the function of the panel and getting the money out, the scheme is one of the best in the country.”
There is a final tranche of £2m available from the LEP for growing businesses to bid for.
