A six-year, £60 million investment in new roads, training and housing developments to boost the county’s economy has been welcomed by the Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Coun Alan Rhodes.
The money has been awarded by the Government under the Local Growth Deal following a successful bid by the Local Enterprise Partnership – D2N2 – a group of local authorities and businesses in Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Derbyshire and Derby working together to drive business growth.
Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Coun Alan Rhodes, a member of D2N2 board, the Local Enterprise Partnership which shaped the Local Growth Deal bid, said:
“This announcement is the culmination of months of hard work lobbying and negotiating to get a fair share of Government funding to support the much needed growth we want to see in our local economy.
“The transport and training projects will bring £60m of new investment to the county, helping to create thousands of new jobs and fresh opportunities. This is very welcome news for hard working families across the county who want to see more investment to open up new opportunities for better paid jobs.
“I am especially pleased to see the investment in Newark and the Rolls Royce development in Hucknall, as well as the Joint Scheme with the Sheffield City Region in Harworth and the north of the county to unlock new investment in former mining communities. These schemes will bring over new 4,000 jobs to Nottinghamshire.
“I would like to thank all of our partners and the Nottinghamshire business community for their support.”
George Cowcher, Chief Executive of Derbyshire’s Chamber of Commerce, said:
“This is positive news and businesses will welcome the fact that, after four years of hard work to produce these proposals and negotiate with Government, the money – which will make a real difference to businesses on the ground in Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – is finally starting to materialise.
“The Growth Deal will have a positive and practical impact on the regional economy, helping to protect existing jobs and drive job creation, upskill the local labour market, transform local infrastructure and, most importantly, support private sector growth and investment at what is a crucial time for the economy.
“While there is disappointment that not all the submitted projects were successful, it’s important to remember that this money has been awarded at the end of a process which has seen D2N2 go up against the other LEP areas across the country and the fund was heavily oversubscribed.
“A further round of bidding for the next phase of funding will begin shortly, so focus must be placed on ensuring the bids which missed out are as strong as they can be, highlighting any other potential projects or opportunities and demonstrating to Government that we can deliver best value on what we have already been allocated.”
