County Durham fund is granted additional £4m to support businesses

A North East fund has been granted an additional £4m to help support businesses across County Durham.

The County Durham Growth Fund has been awarded the extra funding on top of its initial £4.9m capital grant scheme, which provides grants to small and medium enterprises in County Durham to accelerate their growth.

Sarah Slaven, Business Durham’s interim managing director, commented: “It is fantastic to celebrate the first anniversary of the County Durham Growth Fund by announcing we have secured an additional £4m of grant funding to the scheme.

“We will now be able to support more businesses from across the county to grow and thrive.

“We are delighted to have funded 11 businesses’ capital investment projects and help them to achieve their ambitions through expanding into new markets, becoming more efficient and increasing their workforce.

“Over the next three years as the economy moves into the recovery phase it is going to be particularly important to support businesses to grow and create jobs, and we hope the County Durham Growth Fund will continue to play a vital part in enabling businesses to invest and expand their operations in the county.”

Councillor Carl Marshall, cabinet member for economic regeneration at Durham County Council, said: “We are committed to supporting businesses to expand and thrive, and the County Durham Growth Fund is testament to this.

“As we mark its first anniversary, it is a fantastic opportunity to look back at the difference this funding has made – both in terms of enabling businesses to realise their ambitions and in the hundreds of new jobs it has helped to create within the county.”