Last chance for fund applications

15/10/12

Businesses are being urged to act now or risk losing out on financial assistance to get capital investment projects off the ground.

Firms across Yorkshire have only a few weeks left to submit an expression of interest for the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) Growing Places Fund.

Submissions should be made by the November 1st deadline and the LEP team are on standby to provide advice and support to any businesses interested in applying.

Loans of between £250,000 to £5million are available to help businesses complete infrastructure projects that will create jobs and drive economic growth. The repayments from these will be recycled to provide future funds to help other city region businesses.

Chair of the Leeds City Region LEP, Neil McLean said:

“The Growing Places fund is all about providing a helping hand to allow businesses to realise their full potential.

“If say, you have planning permission in place to expand your premises and customers champing at the bit for the extra goods or services you’d be able to provide if you could only find the funding to make that expansion a reality, then we really want to hear from you.”

Other examples of projects that could be assisted by the Growing Places Fund include: building access roads to open up land for commercial development; investment in low carbon projects or development to provide business accommodation.

Projects should be ‘ready to go’, with the necessary permissions in place and be able to explain how they will result in economic growth, cut carbon emissions and create new jobs and apprenticeships.

Businesses should also be able to lever in private funds to invest alongside the loan.

Contact the Leeds City Region team on 0113 247 7911 or click here for more information.