The North of England emerged as the big winner this week as the government announced £3.6bn of funding for local enterprise partnerships for spending on housing, infrastructure and skills projects.
More than £1.5bn, or 42% of the total, will be shared across the North East, North West and Yorkshire from 2015 onwards.
Seventeen of England’s 39 LEPs will receive £2.6bn, or 72% of the total handouts.
Private sector funding will be sought to boost the overall local growth programme to £12bn.
The resources will be put towards enabling work for around 150 housing projects proposing a total of 157,500 homes. A further 170 infrastructure projects will be funded to enable major commercial development, including four prominent schemes.
KPMG head of infrastructure Richard Threlfall said: “The North is the big winner. It’s a good thing that they’re handing out serious money for investment outside London, but we shouldn’t get carried away. The big prize out there is to devolve local property taxes. That would give a perpetual access to funding to those local authorities.”
THE BLACK COUNTRY
The Black Country LEP has secured funding for a new transport hub to link up with HS2, with a masterplan expected to create hundreds of thousands of sq ft of commercial, retail and leisure space. Neptune Developments is working with the council.
COAST TO CAPITAL
The Coast to Capital LEP has secured an £8.7m loan funding arrangement, in partnership with the London LEP, to accelerate the building of 625 homes on Ruskin Square in Croydon, south London. Stanhope and Schroders are developing the scheme.
SHEFFIELD CITY REGION
Sheffield City Region and central government have agreed to co-invest in Chesterfield Waterside. The project covers 320,000 sq ft of offices and 1,200 homes, plus shops and cafés. Urbo is developing the scheme in partnership with Chesterfield borough council.
D2N2
The government will fund site access and remediation works for Derby’s Infinity Park, which will create 1.5m sq ft of office and industrial space across a 250-acre site. Wilson Bowden and Cedar House act as developers for Derby council, the Harpur Crewe Estate and Rolls-Royce.
