North East should get a big share of £1bn cash pot
Aug 4 2010 by Will Green, The Journal
THE North East should benefit "substantially" from a £1bn regional growth fund launched by the Government, according to one of the people in charge of the cash.
Port of Tyne chairman Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, who was last week named deputy chairman of the fund’s approval panel, said funding was likely to be focussed on small and medium enterprises that are expected to power economic growth – and create new jobs – in the coming years.
He also expressed hope the fund could be extended beyond its current two-year timeframe, revealing that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was “strongly committed” to the programme.
The developments come after Sir Ian, pictured, was last month appointed deputy chairman of the independent approval panel, which will consider bids for funding and make recommendations to ministers.
Sir Ian said the fund was still in its “very early days” and discussions about how it would operate were continuing, with full details unlikely to be known before the Government’s comprehensive spending review in the autumn. He said: “The purpose of it is to try and generate private sector employment and private sector economic growth in the areas that are over-dependent upon the public sector.
“And probably the best example of that, probably the biggest example of that is the North East of England.
“That imbalance needs to be reversed and the purpose of the growth fund is to assist in that happening. So it is to grow the private sector.” Asked how much cash the North East could receive, he said: “That depends upon bids coming in and it is impossible to say whether the North East will get more than other regions.
“But as it has got such a substantial imbalance then inevitably one would expect it to get a substantial amount of support from the fund.”
Sir Ian said private sector organisations would in the “first line” to get funding, with charity and voluntary groups next. Agencies supporting businesses could also get money.
Bids could also come from local enterprise partnerships that will be made up of local businesses and councils, and will replace regional development agencies – although the details are not yet finalised.
Sir Ian said: “We are making fairly rapid progress. Nick Clegg is strongly committed to the development of the regional growth fund. He has been one of the primary forces in Government behind it.”
He added that Business Secretary Vince Cable and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles were also very supportive and that the fund could be extended beyond its current two year period if it is successful.
He said: “There is no commitment from Government to doing it, because clearly it depends also not just upon the success of the fund but also the success of the economy.
“If the economy is doing well at that stage, then more funds are going to be available for this sort of thing and other things.”
