Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has unveiled a £500m Government cash pot to boost regional growth through the creation of new homes and jobs.
The Growing Places Fund is aimed at the 38 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), covering 99% of the country and the aim is to allocate all the funding from the end of January through a bidding process.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: ‘The £500m Growing Places Fund will unlock much-needed local infrastructure and get the homes we need built.
‘It will be local enterprise partnerships, made up of the people and businesses who know their local areas best, who will decide where this cash boost will be spent.’
Ministers have provisionally indicated funding levels for different LEPs assuming bids are successful. Liverpool City Region could be in line for £12.9m, Leeds City Region £23.9m, Birmingham and Solihull £14.9m, with nearly £40m potentially available for London. The sums are based on a simple formula using population and employment earnings.
The money comes from Whitehall under-spend on major projects from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Department of Transport (DfT) and across Government.
Last week, the Centre for Cities criticised LEPs for making 'alarmingly slow progress'.
