Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership(LEP) has been allocated £12 million by Central Government to support the recovery of the Worcestershire economy through delivery of capital projects.
On 30 June 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new package of measures designed to drive the UK’s economic recovery. These packages included support for the regeneration and usage of the housing sector, local high streets and more.
As part of this new wave of funding packages, £900 million has been allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships across the country to develop and invest in capital projects designed to support the local economies.
The £12M allocated to Worcestershire LEP will enable investment in priority projects to drive local growth and jobs. This could include the development and regeneration of key local sites, investment to improve transport and digital connectivity, create the county’s future workforce and innovation and technology centres to further build the county into a great place to live, work, visit and invest.
This latest award of funding is on top of the £71.71m of Growth Deal funding already awarded to Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership between 2016 and 2021 to be spent on agreed economic projects prioritised in the county’s Strategic Economic Plan.
This has helped the development of a number of key projects for the county, including examples such as, Worcestershire Parkway station, Hoobrook Link Road, Worcester Six Business Park and Malvern Hills Science Park development, countywide flood alleviation programmes, Kidderminster Rail Station redevelopment, improvements along the A38 corridor and numerous training facilities, including modern engineering Skills Centre facilities in Redditch and Worcester, and the Duckworth Centre of Engineering at the Heart of Worcestershire College, delivering construction and automotive skills to meet local economic demands.
Mark Stansfeld, Chair of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “I am delighted to welcome the news of £12 million of funding from Central Government for Worcestershire. Our delivery of projects for the county has been labelled as ‘excellent’ and with our local growth deal projects completed or progressing on schedule this further demonstrates the commitment to support the county.
“We are determined at the Worcestershire LEP to help both businesses and residents bounce back and with this new funding we will continue to make Worcestershire a connected, creative, dynamic economy for all.”
The Worcestershire LEP will be announcing the capital projects to be funded with this new investment over the coming weeks. To stay updated with all news from the Worcestershire LEP, sign up to their monthly newsletter on the link here.
For more information about the new packages launched by the UK Government, please visit the Government website.
To learn more about the Worcestershire Growth Deal projects, go to the Worcestershire Growth Deal page here.