Building for Jobs investment fund to be launched
Plymouth City Council has unveiled a fighting fund of £20 million to invest in the city’s economy and help create the right conditions for growth.
The Building for Jobs investment fund has been created as part of the city’s Plan for Jobs, which pulls together key projects that will help create around 2,000 jobs over the next two years.
The Plan was launched last month as a pro-active city response to an unprecedented economic situation created by global market uncertainty, coupled with the increasing impact of Government cutbacks across every aspect of public life.
Now a capital investment fund has been created to provide a substantial boost to growth and job creation. It has been pulled together as a result of months of work to look at the Council’s capital resources and funding to see what could be diverted to help counter the current economic climate and shift the city’s economy up a gear.
Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “The need to create jobs is quite simply the most important issue we face at the moment, which is why we are prepared to commit resources to schemes that can provide work for people and help the city to carry on growing.
“We launched our Plan for Jobs with the promise to do all we can to prevent unemployment from blighting so many people in this city and we are prepared to prioritise resources into projects that will deliver this.”
The fund needs to be able to
* Invest in property that will stimulate businesses to start or expand
* Be used as match funding to unlock more substantial funds to support growth projects
* Invest in gap funding – where infrastructure projects are stalled or hindered by a viability gap.
Examples could include building business premises – such as office units at Langage or setting up managed work spaces and enterprise hubs or start-up businesses. While there is an initial capital outlay, the project would not only bring in a long-term income, it would stimulate economic activity.
Other examples would be road or other infrastructure that would open up planned development or enable marine sector companies to access the waterfront at South Yard, for instance.
The capital investment could also be used to help unlock stalled housing development and create construction and supply chain jobs as a result or help deliver the city’s Visitor Plan by investing in exciting digital and physical infrastructure for the plans’ ‘Telling Stories’ project.
A separate £500,000 revenue pot could also be used for some of the specific projects outlined in the Plan for Jobs, including creating the city’s first multi-sector apprentice training agency and match funding to lever in European funds for managed workspaces at several locations across the city.
Councillor Evans added: “This is really exciting and could have a significant impact on our economy. Not only does it strengthen the city’s case for external funding, but by taking such a proactive approach, it shows business and investors that we mean business!”
The Council has put together criteria for proposals that could be considered for funding and any organisation or company hoping for support would be expected to spell out in detail the number of jobs created and value for money of their proposal. The long-term sustainability of a likely investment would need to be considered as well as how deliverable a project is and within what timescales. The lasting impact of a project would also be a key factor.
The investment pot has been made up from a number of sources – including £9.52 million of capital receipts, £5.74 million of grants and contributions.
Councillor Evans added: “Time and again people have told us that creating jobs and strengthening our economy is their top priority.
“We want to change our city for the better, but we simply can't just sit back and expect others to do it, we need to be at the heart of this change and this £20 million investment proves we are prepared to do that.”
