{"id":68873,"date":"2016-03-22T14:57:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T14:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=06efabf3a1760644cd4f8515d701c800"},"modified":"2016-03-22T14:57:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T14:57:10","slug":"press-release-greg-clark-offers-communities-multi-billion-pound-offer-to-boost-local-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=68873","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Greg Clark offers communities multi-billion pound offer to boost local growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Local leaders wanting to boost skills, support business and build more homes will be offered the chance to apply for the latest round of Growth Deals worth billions of pounds, Greg Clark said today (22 March 2016).<\/p>\n<p>The Communities Secretary said the deals would boost the chances of areas securing significant inward investment from overseas \u2013 he will today chair an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/chinese-summit-looks-to-unlock-investment-for-northern-powerhouse\">historic summit with Chinese regional leaders<\/a> to highlight the opportunities available across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Growth Deals, England\u2019s 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships \u2013 made up of council leaders and business representatives \u2013 will be able to apply for a share of \u00a31.8 billion to support projects in their areas that boost local economic growth and create jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The money forms part of the government\u2019s \u00a312 billion Local Growth Fund, which is already being used to support successful projects \u2013 chosen by communities themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Communities Secretary Greg Clark said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019re completely changing the way business is done in this country, ending the top-down, \u2018Whitehall knows best\u2019 mentality of the past and instead putting power back where it belongs \u2013 in the hands of local communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">With this offer of a Growth Deal to communities across the country, we\u2019re backing this devolution revolution with billions of pounds, releasing vital investment in projects across the country to boost local skills, deliver new homes and create jobs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"devolving-power-and-funding-to-communities\">Devolving power and funding to communities<\/h2>\n<p>The government has made clear its commitment to putting power directly into the hands of communities to shape the future development of their area.<\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/topical-events\/budget-2016\">Budget<\/a> included 5 new and extended devolution deals, which transfer billions of pounds and extensive powers from Whitehall to cities and counties, and paved the way for work to start on major infrastructure and housing projects, by allocating funding support from the Local Growth Fund.  <\/p>\n<p>This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>new devolution deals with councils in East Anglia, Greater Lincolnshire and the West of England<\/li>\n<li>extended devolution deals with Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region<\/li>\n<li>\u00a3475 million for large local transport projects \u2013 of which \u00a3151 million will fund 2 new crossings at Lowestoft and Ipswich<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Already \u00a37.7 billion of the \u00a312 billion Local Growth Fund has been allocated to more than 900 projects across England to build vital infrastructure, improve skills and create thousands of jobs.  <\/p>\n<p>They include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a new \u00a32.6 million motor vehicle engineering centre at Leicester College, built using \u00a31.23 million from the Local Enterprise Partnership\u2019s Growth Deal allocation<\/li>\n<li>flood defences at Albert Dock in Hull, which were completed in November 2015. This \u00a36. 6million project received \u00a33 million from the Humber <abbr title=\"Local Enterprise Partnership\">LEP<\/abbr>\u2019s Growth Deal allocation, leading to 1.6 km of new flood walls being built, which has protected hundreds of homes from further flooding<\/li>\n<li>Halesowen College\u2019s advanced science, engineering and technology centre: a third of the \u00a33.17 million build cost was funded from the Black Country <abbr title=\"Local Enterprise Partnership\">LEP<\/abbr>\u2019s Growth Deal. The project will meet identified skills gaps and has the backing of major local businesses<\/li>\n<li>Shipley College Grade II listed Mill Building, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire, which has undergone a \u00a3388,000 refurbishment. The project has received a \u00a3119,000 grant from the <abbr title=\"Local Enterprise Partnership\">LEP<\/abbr> and West Yorkshire Combined Authority\u2019s Local Growth Fund<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mr Clark urged Local Enterprise Partnerships to \u201cbe ambitious\u201d and apply for a share of the remaining \u00a31.8 billion Local Growth Fund to support projects in their area.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h2>\n<p>Any Local Enterprise Partnership looking to apply for a share of Local Growth Funding has until the summer to do so.  <\/p>\n<p>This will be highly competitive \u2013 to be successful, Local Enterprise Partnerships will need to work with partners to agree strong and accountable governance, putting forward proposals that boost growth and bring in private sector funding.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact postal-address\" id=\"contact_40\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Office address and general enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<p class=\"adr\">\n<span class=\"street-address\">2 Marsham Street<br \/>\n<br \/>\nLondon<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"postal-code\">SW1P 4DF<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"contact_form_url\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Contact form<\/span><br \/>\n              <a href=\"http:\/\/forms.communities.gov.uk\/\">http:\/\/forms.communiti&#8230;<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">General enquiries:  please use this number if you are a member of the public<\/span><br \/>\n              030 3444 0000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_171\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk\">press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Please use this number if you&#8217;re a journalist wishing to speak to Press Office<\/span><br \/>\n              030 3444 1201\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England\u2019s 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships will be able to apply for a share of \u00a31.8 billion to support projects in their areas.<\/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\/68873"}],"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=68873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}