New £9m boost announced for Leeds City Region businesses

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee has agreed to allocate £9m of additional funding to support businesses in the region to grow, innovate and boost productivity.

Businesses across the Leeds City Region will benefit from this investment as part of an overall £1bn-plus Growth Deal with the government to accelerate growth and job creation.

This investment targets the sectors of manufacturing, low carbon and environmental, financial and business services, digital and creative and health and life sciences.

The funding agreed is on top of an existing £18m investment that will lead to the creation of over 4,000 jobs in the region.

This new round of finance aims to strengthen innovation among the region’s firms and support more businesses in generating growth.

Grants of between £10k and £250k will be available to businesses across Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Wakefield, Selby and York and Leeds.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee said: “I am delighted this additional funding has been agreed that will boost growth, innovation and productivity across our region.

“We have so many innovative companies in our region making a significant contribution to prosperity and job creation. This new funding will boost the innovation capacity of our businesses yet further, supporting local partners’ ambition of making Leeds City Region the best place in the UK to innovate and grow your business.”

Roger Marsh OBE, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Combined Authority Board Member, added: “This is great news for the region, its businesses and the economy.

“Supporting growing businesses is at the heart of the LEP and West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s work to transform the Leeds City Region economy and this funding will help us to build on the work already underway to create jobs, develop skills and drive productivity.”

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority Board is set to approve this new funding at its meeting on June 29th.