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Back to Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund News – Issue 3

LEP Perspective: Cheshire and Warrington

Cheshire and Warrington is an outstanding location for business, home to one of the strongest and fastest growing economies in the UK.

Our economic output is greater than core cities such as Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds and we are 20% more productive than the rest of the UK, producing £8,000 more per employee than the North West average and £3,000 more than the UK average.

Our economy has grown by 6% since 2015 to just under £30 billion per annum and, at our current rate of growth, we will soon overtake Liverpool and Lancashire to become the second biggest economy in the North West, and third biggest in the North.

We excel in a number of high growth sectors and have a growing reputation as a location for science and innovation, home to some of the most significant science-based assets in the UK across the Cheshire Science Corridor. In 2016, a number of business and investment sites within the Science Corridor launched as an Enterprise Zone, offering significant incentives for businesses and an investment pipeline of around £60 million.

Advanced manufacturing is a thriving sector for Cheshire and Warrington. The area produces 25% of the North West’s manufacturing output, and is a hotbed for the life sciences, finance and business services energy and chemicals sectors.

This rich and diverse economy is supported by a strong base of smaller and medium sized companies, and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is playing a vital role in providing access to funding to help them scale up and grow.

To date, nearly £3 million of investments from NPIF has been secured for Cheshire and Warrington businesses, and we are already seeing more companies coming forward to capitalise on this important source of finance.

The LEP is supporting this through its own initiatives to help ensure that businesses have access to the support they need, and we will soon be launching an Access to Finance support programme to help businesses produce and develop effective business plans that will enable them to unlock finance opportunities.

Other support avenues include our Growth Hub, which signposts businesses to sources of support for projects that will increase turnover and create new jobs.

The LEP’s mission is to provide the right conditions for the private sector to thrive and benefit from the area’s outstanding economic success. We welcome the role that NPIF is playing in supporting companies across our area to grow and develop.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

Editors Notes