-
The Obstacle Race towards the new round of Europea...
The starter gun has been fired for the obstacle race that is preparing for the next round of European Structural and Convergence Funds - sometimes better known as ERDF (for business support and infrastructure) and ESF (for training and employment support). Does it really matter? Well for individual localities in the UK it can. Under the current Structural Funds a total of €10.6 billion over 7...
-
Housing: Alleviating a Demographic and Labour Mark...
The debate about how we pay for the future costs of pensions and care for our increasingly ageing population is well advanced. But there is another debate yet to be had, in relation to long term decisions about housing provision. How to ensure an adequate future workforce for local businesses and economies should feature more prominently in debates about housing numbers up and down the country....
-
UK City of Culture 2017, what any bidder should kn...
The Government recently announced that it will launch a competition to find the UK’s City of Culture 2017. We welcome this continued commitment towards a competition which was launched following Liverpool’s success as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Here, we share our thoughts on what potential bidders might need to be thinking about before embarking on the process. We managed the bidding...
-
Tips for a Successful R3 RGF bid
Last week the £1 billion Round 3 of the Regional Growth Fund was launched. With a deadline of 13th June, those interested in bidding will need to gear up quickly. Regeneris supported a number of Round 1 and Round 2 bids, with our successes including a £4 million bid for the North West Aerospace sector, a £26 million Hull and East Riding Renewables Sector Development programme bid (see here) an...
-
CIL – The Current State of Play
In August we published our first blog on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). With four local authorities with CIL either implemented or approved (London Borough of Redbridge, Newark and Sherwood, Shropshire and Portsmouth) and several others with draft charging schedules going through the consultation and approval process, the detail of future developer contributions is now starting to take...
-
Super Fast Trains & Super Fast Broadband
I’ve been struck in the last 24 hours by the comparisons being made between HS2 and the government’s other flagship infrastructure investment in superfast broadband. £530m has been allocated through BDUK to local partnerships across the country while HS2 is going to cost £33bn for its first phase alone connecting Birmingham and London, with the first trains not running until 2026. Whilst there h...
-
The Perfect Match? SME Contributions and ERDF
In the current economic climate, stakeholders across England’s regions are keen to bring forward projects that can provide a much-needed boost to local enterprise. They know that ERDF funding is available for this, but in many cases lack the match funding needed to draw it down. One answer is to increase the use of match funding contributions from SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Us...
-
Is the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund really a riot r...
Last week the GLA and the Mayor of London launched London’s new Regeneration Fund; a direct response to the August riots pledging “£70m towards major long term improvements to the damaged town centres and high streets. The fund is focused both on the boroughs affected, and where there is potential to drive growth and prosperity.” Funding has been allocated to 8 areas, with the most significant i...
