{"id":64104,"date":"2015-11-13T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T09:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=c61695675b4196dfaaa3f3c9c025a49a"},"modified":"2015-11-13T09:12:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T09:12:00","slug":"press-release-heseltine-appointed-to-lead-tees-valley-investment-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=64104","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Heseltine appointed to lead Tees Valley investment programme"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The government has appointed Lord Michael Heseltine to chair a new inward investment programme for the Tees Valley, following the closure of the <abbr title=\"Sahaviriya Steel Industries\">SSI<\/abbr> steelworks in Redcar.<\/p>\n<p>This Tees Valley Inward Investment Initiative will work to boost growth and create jobs across the region, supporting existing local plans. It will have a specific remit to attract foreign investment and boost the region\u2019s international profile.<\/p>\n<p>Lord Heseltine will be in the region on Monday (16 November 2015) with Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton. Together, they will meet the Local Enterprise Partnership (<abbr title=\"Local Enterprise Partnership\">LEP<\/abbr>), leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, and the regional director for UK Trade and Investment.<\/p>\n<p>Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The closure of the <abbr title=\"Sahaviriya Steel Industries\">SSI<\/abbr> steelworks plant was a huge blow to local people. On top of the up to \u00a380 million package of direct support, we are determined to do all we can to secure long-term growth for the area and people of Tees Valley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Michael has a record of getting things done. He has a wealth of experience of working closely with local communities, business acumen and passion for investment and regeneration, and it\u2019s a real coup he\u2019s agreed to take on this job.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lord Heseltine said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It is a great honour to be asked to help with the government response to the sad events in the steel industry in Teesside. I look forward to joining James Wharton, the local MP and Minister for the Northern Powerhouse, in Tees Valley to meet those engaged in a number of local initiatives and determine how I can support their activities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In this new role, Lord Heseltine will work closely with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/uk-trade-investment\">UK Trade and Investment<\/a>, the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk\/\">Tees Valley Unlimited <abbr title=\"Local Enterprise Partnership\">LEP<\/abbr><\/a> and the local <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk\/taskforce\">Redcar <abbr title=\"Sahaviriya Steel Industries\">SSI<\/abbr> Taskforce<\/a> to oversee negotiations with potential investors, maximise these opportunities and speed up their delivery.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The closure of <abbr title=\"Sahaviriya Steel Industries\">SSI<\/abbr> has been extremely difficult for the local community, in Redcar and in the wider Tees Valley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">So I\u2019m pleased to be working with Lord Heseltine, who will bring his wealth of experience to bear to attract investment opportunities and new jobs for local people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine is currently an adviser to the government on local growth following his 2013 report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/no-stone-unturned-in-pursuit-of-growth\">\u2018No Stone Unturned\u2019<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Lord Heseltine\u2019s appointment as chair of the Tees Valley Inward Investment Initiative follows the recent signing of an historic agreement to devolve power from Whitehall to the Tees Valley.<\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a new investment fund of \u00a315 million a year over the next 30 years<\/li>\n<li>the power, if they have the support of the business community, to raise business rates to help fund new infrastructure<\/li>\n<li>responsibility for a devolved approach to business support from 2017, to be developed in partnership with government<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Voters will choose a directly-elected Mayor in 2017, who will take on a raft of new powers.<\/p>\n<p>This follows a package of government support of up to \u00a380 million, including funding for affected <abbr title=\"Sahaviriya Steel Industries\">SSI<\/abbr> workers to train at local further education colleges, tailored support through JobCentre Plus offices and finance to assist workers if they want to start their own businesses.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors:<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/80-million-support-package-for-ssi-workers-and-local-economy\">More about the government\u2019s package of support worth up to \u00a380 million for Redcar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/tees-valley-devolution-deal\">The devolution deal with Tees Valley was announced on 23 October 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Lord Heseltine is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Industry. He is currently based at the Department for Communities and Local Government as a government adviser on local growth to Communities Secretary Greg Clark, and was the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/no-stone-unturned-in-pursuit-of-growth\">\u2018No Stone Unturned: in the pursuit of growth\u2019<\/a>, which gave recommendations for strengthening local economic growth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lord Michael Heseltine to chair a new inward investment programme for the Tees Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64121,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64104\/revisions\/64121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}