Council Gives £1.5 million Boost to Local Businesses
Tuesday, 21st October 2008.
Businesses across St Edmundsbury will be benefiting from over £1.5million that St Edmundsbury Borough Council (SEBC) intends to re-invest in the local economy over the next two years.
The bulk of the money comes from the Government’s Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme (LABGI) which rewards local authorities in accordance with the economic growth of their area by allowing them to retain revenue increases derived from business rates. St Edmundsbury has a strong economic profile and has received £1,174,417 over the last three years.
The council also hopes to invest a £445,000 capital receipt from the sale of the Vision Centre in Bury St Edmunds in re-vitalising their employment units on Hollands Road in Haverhill.
Projects whose benefits will be delivered borough-wide include a £100,000 bursary and training fund to unlock further funding for new business growth and inward investment, and £70,000 on training initiatives to be delivered by Mid Anglian Enterprise Agency (Menta), which will address difficulties faced by businesses now and in the next six months, including advice for people made redundant or starting a new business. This will see a newly equipped training room in the Menta units (owned by the council) in Hollands Park, Haverhill.
A New Business Competition will be established with £61,000 to fund substantial discounts on new units in the Incubation Centre at Suffolk Business Park, (due to be completed in October 2009), for successful entrants.
Town centres also gain. Bury St Edmunds receives an extra £60,000, to promote the whole town as a high quality, dynamic, regional visitor destination. In Haverhill, a scheme to help retailers improve their shop fronts receives £25,000, (matched by Suffolk County Council), as part of the major facelift the main shopping area is currently undergoing.
Cllr Nigel Aitkens, St Edmundsbury Borough Council Cabinet member for Economy and Asset Management says: "St Edmundsbury is among a minority of councils in the country to re-invest this money in the way that it was actually intended - to improve the economic prosperity of our area. Now that it is becoming more apparent how businesses will be affected by the current economic conditions, we are allocating the funding to support as broad a range of enterprises as possible, to maintain a thriving and vibrant economy throughout these difficult times.”
The bulk of the money comes from the Government’s Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme (LABGI) which rewards local authorities in accordance with the economic growth of their area by allowing them to retain revenue increases derived from business rates. St Edmundsbury has a strong economic profile and has received £1,174,417 over the last three years.
The council also hopes to invest a £445,000 capital receipt from the sale of the Vision Centre in Bury St Edmunds in re-vitalising their employment units on Hollands Road in Haverhill.
Projects whose benefits will be delivered borough-wide include a £100,000 bursary and training fund to unlock further funding for new business growth and inward investment, and £70,000 on training initiatives to be delivered by Mid Anglian Enterprise Agency (Menta), which will address difficulties faced by businesses now and in the next six months, including advice for people made redundant or starting a new business. This will see a newly equipped training room in the Menta units (owned by the council) in Hollands Park, Haverhill.
A New Business Competition will be established with £61,000 to fund substantial discounts on new units in the Incubation Centre at Suffolk Business Park, (due to be completed in October 2009), for successful entrants.
Town centres also gain. Bury St Edmunds receives an extra £60,000, to promote the whole town as a high quality, dynamic, regional visitor destination. In Haverhill, a scheme to help retailers improve their shop fronts receives £25,000, (matched by Suffolk County Council), as part of the major facelift the main shopping area is currently undergoing.
Cllr Nigel Aitkens, St Edmundsbury Borough Council Cabinet member for Economy and Asset Management says: "St Edmundsbury is among a minority of councils in the country to re-invest this money in the way that it was actually intended - to improve the economic prosperity of our area. Now that it is becoming more apparent how businesses will be affected by the current economic conditions, we are allocating the funding to support as broad a range of enterprises as possible, to maintain a thriving and vibrant economy throughout these difficult times.”
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