news 5
£200m on the table from the Regional Growth Fund
Businesses in the South East can bid for a share of £200 million, the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has announced as he launched round six of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF).
The Government is investing £170m from the first five rounds of the RGF in the South East, which is supporting 30 projects and programmes across the region, to create and safeguard thousands of jobs and stimulate £1.1 billion of private-sector investment.
Clegg said: “The Regional Growth Fund is a helping hand from Government to create thousands of jobs that last, boost the private sector and rebalance the economy.
“I’ve seen first hand at businesses across the country how the fund is supporting businesses that are working
hard to fuel our recovery and help us build a stronger economy.
“I would encourage any businesses that can generate significant private sector investment and sustainable jobs to bid for a share of the £200m available from the fund.”
Round six will be open to private-sector bidders seeking £1m or more. The Government is calling on companies to plan high-quality projects that will generate significant private-sector investment and sustainable jobs. Businesses will be able to submit their bids until noon on September 30, 2014.
To help bidders on their applications, road shows and expression-of-interest days will be held throughout the country from now to provide
Immediate speculative development action needed
Businesses taking up office space within the UK’s various regional office markets turned a corner in 2013 with Oxford reporting take-up after much stagnation during the recession. With rental growth forecast by the end of the year across all regional centres for the first time in six years, immediate action in terms of speculative development is required now in order for sufficient volumes to be built to ensure continuing rental growth and overall future viability of the office markets, according to Carter Jonas.
In Oxford, take-up totalled 185,000 sq ft, a 28% improvement on its 2012 level, although it was just shy of the five year average. Much activity is in the pipeline in terms of letting and a far more prosperous year ahead is predicted.
Catherine Penman, head of research at Carter
Jonas, said: “The supply of good-quality accommodation is now acutely low across all our regional markets.”
“101 & 102 Park Drive at MEPC’s Milton Park is the first speculative development within Oxfordshire for six years with no other development evident across the other regions and the supply of good-quality stock is now reaching acutely low levels.
“Immediate speculative development action is required now across all regional centres in order for sufficient volumes to be built to ensure continuing rental growth and the overall future viability of the office markets,” said Penman.
Prime office rental levels are forecast to increase across the regional markets: Oxford to £25.00 per sq ft from £23.50 per sq ft in 2013.
Details:
www.carterjonas.co.uk THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2014
www.businessmag.co.uk
advice on how to make a successful bid.
The business secretary Vince Cable said: “The Regional Growth Fund is a fundamental part of our efforts to boost manufacturing and rebalance the economy, helping to create new jobs in the South East. Round six is now open for applications and I urge businesses to see how it can help them to increase their workforce or expand to new markets.”
Business minister Michael Fallon said: “Through the Regional Growth Fund, we are investing £170m in the South East, which will help growing businesses create long-term, highly-skilled jobs.”
Details:
www.gov.uk/ understanding-the-regional- growth-fund
The impact on SE businesses of interest rate rises
Over one-in-five South East businesses say that they would be put into financial difficulty if interest rates were to rise by at least one percentage point in the next 18 months, according to a report by insolvency trade body R3.
The findings come from R3’s latest Business Distress Index, a long- running survey of a nationally representative sample of business owners and directors.
It shows that 4% of businesses in the South East, compared with 6% across the UK, say they would be put into ‘serious’ financial difficulty were interest rates to rise over the next eighteen months, while 18% regionally (16% nationally) said they would be put into ‘some’ difficulty.
The vast majority of businesses appear relaxed about the prospects of an interest rate rise, with 66% saying they would be unaffected. 9% of businesses say they believe they would benefit from a rate rise.
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