Lancashire's Boost helps county firms create almost 300 jobs in 21 months

Lancashire growth hub Boost has now helped 2,888 county companies access business support, according to new data.

The organisation has helped Lancashire firms create an estimated 291 jobs since January last year, when the growth hub secured £7.8m in funding to run for another three years.

In that time, 119 new businesses launched and £3.5m in new economic activity was generated.

The Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and county council run Boost with funding support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The growth hub offers access to mentoring, finance, innovation, skills and training.

The county council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning, Cllr Michael Green, said: “We’re approaching the half way point of the Boost funding period and these latest figures add up to a very positive mid-term report for the business growth hub.

“There have been some tremendous success stories of existing businesses and start-ups launching new products and services and creating new jobs. There’s no doubt that Boost has led to increased economic activity in the county.”

He continued: “The Cabinet recently committed to providing £1m in match funding to help us to attract funding and continue Boost to the end of December 2021. We’ve already seen a lot of success from Boost and we’re determined to continue this important work.”

Elsewhere, more than 100 companies have joined Boost & Co, a group of private sector providers that promotes Boost to its clients and contacts.

Lancashire County Council’s Boost programme manager, Andrew Leeming, commented: “We’ve had law firms, accountancy firms, banks, IT providers, marketing companies and training providers, to name just a few, signing up to promote Boost to their clients.

“This is truly an example of the public and private sector working together for the good of the county. Boost is once again proving to be an influential player in growing Lancashire.”

The current phase of the Boost service is aiming to support 3,360 county businesses, create 2,000 jobs and help establish 200 new enterprises.

Boost’s first phase, which ran from July 2013 to July 2015, supported more than 2,800 businesses and created over 1,200 jobs in Lancashire.