A NEW £4m business grant fund is now available to ambitious North and East Yorkshire businesses following a successful Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bid led by Clive Owen LLP and the BE Group.
The fund will build upon the success achieved last year with the scheme administered by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The LEP scheme opened the door to the availability of grants within the North & East Yorkshire region, but its timescale was always limited by a 31 March 2015 end date.
Clive Owen LLP, which has an office on the Northminster Business Park, advised on a large number of applications into the LEP scheme, and saw at first hand the investment and job creation that it helped deliver.
Clive Owen LLP partner, Neville Baldry, had the idea to put forward a bid to Round 6 of the Regional Growth Fund for funds to continue the availability of grant support to businesses in the region.
Neville then teamed up with Simon Allen of the BE Group, which administers the successful Let’s Grow North East grant scheme, along with a number of other government-funded schemes.
Support was also forthcoming from the LEP, representing the nine local authorities within the area covered by the scheme. Despite tough competition for available funds, the two were successful in securing £4m for the North & East Yorkshire region.
The scheme is now ready for launch at a breakfast event at York’s Marriott Hotel in Tadcaster Road on June 19. To be called Let’s Grow North and East Yorkshire, the scheme builds upon the name already established in the North East over the last two years. Grants of up to between 10% and 20% of capital expenditure, or up to 25% of research & development and training costs can be awarded to eligible businesses creating or safeguarding new and sustainable jobs within the York, North Yorkshire, and East Riding area. The minimum level of grant is £25,000.
Clive Owen LLP has extensive experience of grant and state aid matters, having been involved with over £140m of RGF funding since 2011. The partner with responsibility for this at Clive Owen LLP is Neville Baldry.
Neville said:
This is great news for North & East Yorkshire as, historically, this region has been out of scope for grant funding opportunities.
Growing businesses in the region have often missed out on funding opportunities, while their close neighbours in areas such as Teesside and West Yorkshire have always benefitted from grant support.
Last year’s LEP scheme demonstrated that there’s no shortage of ambitious businesses in North & East Yorkshire, and the new scheme will help those businesses who want to expand, but just need that extra support to do so.
Simon Allen, senior project manager at BE Group with responsibility for the new scheme, said:
We’ve known Neville and his team at Clive Owen LLP for some time through our successful Let’s Grow North East scheme, so we were delighted when approached to work with them on a scheme for North & East Yorkshire.
Having established Let’s Grow as a brand within the North East, it seemed a logical decision to adopt this name for our scheme.
To find out more or book a place at the York event contact Hilary Dunne by emailing Hilary.dunne@be-group.co.uk or call 0191 389 8502
