The North Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) has won £17m funding – the fifth highest nationally - from the Government’s Growing Places Fund.
Covering the local authority areas of Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland, the hybrid business and public sector board will use the cash boost to kick-start housing and growth-driven infrastructure schemes.
Paul Woolston, chair of NELEP said interested parties would be invited to submit proposals aligned to the LEP's criteria and the partnership board’s aim of ensuring investment funds speed up ‘economic opportunity and generate a rolling investment fund’.
Money from the £450m growing places fund is being made available to all 39 English local enterprise partnerships on a formula based weighting based on population and employment multiplied by earnings.