There was good news for Northamptonshire’s economic development last week when the County was allocated £3.9m as part of the Government’s new Growing Places Fund. The aim of the fund is to help boost economic growth through unlocking infrastructure constraints and getting stalled projects moving again to enable the creation of new jobs and homes.
Work is already underway to explore the opportunities to grow the value of the fund. For example, we are looking at ways we can align the funding with other sources which are also earmarked for infrastructure, to ensure we get the greatest benefit.
It is anticipated that the Fund will help generate economic activity in the short term by addressing immediate infrastructure and site constraints. However, the fund will also focus on projects that build on the sustainable principles of funding, so that we can work towards achieving a ‘revolving fund’ capable of supporting on-going programmes that can encourage further development and potentially leverage private investment.
We are currently welcoming initial expressions of interest for project ideas from private, public and third sectors. These must be received by the 29thNovember 2011, and will then be put forward for consideration by the NEP Board as its next meeting on the 7thDecember 2011.
