New growth deals to bring in £100m funding to Yorkshire

YORKSHIRE will receive an additional £107.3m after the Government provided further funding for the growth deals that were announced last year.

Leeds City Region will receive slightly more than half of the new money coming to the region, having been allocated £54.6m, while Sheffield City Region will get £30.7m. York, North Yorkshire and East Riding will be given £12.1m and Humber has an extra £9.9m to invest.

The new funding adds around 10% to the growth deals for each area that were announced last July.

The projects that will receive this extra funding are focused on transport infrastructure, improving skills through capital investment, and business support and grants programmes.

• Humber: £9.9m to boost Further Education facilities and transport links
• Leeds City Region: Innovation and Enterprise centres at two universities
• Sheffield City Region: Further funding for skills, business support and enterprise zones
• York and North Yorkshire: Road investment to drive growth         

The most eye-catching is the creation of Innovation and Enterprise centres for the Universities of Huddersfield and Leeds, that wll support advanced manufacturing, health and medical and digital and creative sectors.

The University of Huddersfield will receive £2.9m for the Huddersfield Incubation and Innovation Programme. This will enable SMEs in the advanced manufacturing, digital and creative sectors to access state-of-the-art instrumentation such as metal 3D printing and the necessary high-level skills required to exploit the opportunities such equipment can provide.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Giving local communities the power and the money to unlock growth and development and make the spending decisions that work for them is a key part of our long-term economic plan to secure a brighter future for Britain and ensure a recovery for all.

“Because the money will be in the control of a partnership of local community, business and civic leaders it means it will go on the things that really matter to people and businesses here.

“That is what Growth Deals are all about, backing local people and investing in the infrastructure, housing and skills that will drive forward local economies, create more jobs and opportunities for hardworking people and supercharge all parts of our country.”