Maximising the impact of funding

摘要

Private sector investment is crucial to the Tees Valley's success at a time when austerity measures have seen a dramatic fall in government funding. Since the recession the area has attracted somewhere in the region of £3bn, including £1bn into the enterprise zone alone. But government and European funding still play a vital role in kick-starting growth across the Tees Valley and drawing in further investment. Last year projects and programmes in Tees Valley secured £53m from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF), Tees Valley Unlimited has £187m of EU funds to allocate over the next six years and earlier this year its City Deal drew in a further£12m. TVU has sought to maximise the impact of these funds by pooling as many as possible into a single pot called the Tees Valley Investment Fund. It draws in money from a variety of sources including the Enterprise Zone, Local Growth Fund, returns from the Growing Places Fund and a number of EU streams. It also acts as a mechanism to reinvest returns on investment.