LEP secures funding for business

17 February 2013

The Leeds City Region (LCR) Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has successfully secured £20m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to help support the diversification, expansion and modernisation of city region businesses through grants ranging between £10,000 and £1 million.[1] 

The aim of the Programme is to create jobs and growth by supporting the city region’s key growth sectors, specifically life sciences and related industries, digital and creative industries, low carbon and environmental industries, advanced manufacturing and financial and business services[2].  

Funding will contribute towards

  • Investment in land, buildings, plant, machinery and equipment.
  • Research and development activity (excluding basic/fundamental research), where this supports employment and business growth.
  • Successful businesses obtaining grant are also eligible to apply for the Energy and Resource Efficiency Fund, which provides grant funding for capital investments that lead to financial and carbon savings.

Requirements

  • Recipient businesses will be required to create new permanent jobs in the Leeds City Region.
  • Projects will be required to lead to a net increase in the average numbers of employees. These should be maintained for at least 3 years for an SME and 5 years for a large company.
  • Businesses will be expected to have private finance to invest alongside Business Growth Programme funding. For every £1 of Business Growth Programme funding sought, businesses should be able to provide at least £4 of private sector investment.
  • Large businesses outside of assisted areas can only apply for funding to support Research and Development (R&D) projects.
  • Businesses will be required to meet the eligibility criteria outlined online at http://www.leedscityregion.gov.uk/

State Aid

All approved applications must comply with state aid regulations:

  • SME’s can receive up to 20% of the costs of capital development;
  • Large companies (over 250 employees) cannot receive funding for capital development unless they are located in an Assisted Area.  However, they can get funding for Research and Development (R&D) activity.

Process


[1] In exceptional circumstances loans may be available

[2] Applications from Businesses outside these sectors will also be considered