FIVE more successful North-East bids to the flagship 'regional growth fund' will be unveiled today - as the Government announces further details of a £1bn top-up.
The five schemes appeared to have missed out when the region was awarded £93m from the second round of the fund last month, because further work was required.
Now deputy prime minister Nick Clegg will announce funding for:
* A new Tees Valley Waste Management Plant - Run by J&B Recycling to process up to 50 tonnes of waste a year from both municipal and commercial sources, to reduce the amount dumped in landfill.
* BF Biogas Limited - a project to build an anaerobic digestion
manufacturing plant in Teesside, to process food and garden waste, animal waste and slurry and convert for power generation.
* Neptune Energy Park - a project to build a factory, infrastructure and bring brownfield land back into use at the former Neptune Ship Yard, on the River Tyne.
* Central Gateway, in Newcastle - improving access to key development sites in central Newcastle, in particular to allow development of Stephenson Quarter.
* The Enterprise Agency Consortium - six leading enterprise agencies have combined with The National Enterprise Network and Barclays Bank to produce a national business start-up programme for the North-East.
The announcement comes one week after Chancellor George Osborne announced an extra £1bn for the growth fund - making a total of £2.4bn - to allow a third round of bids to begin in February, with a fourth to follow.
Mr Clegg will say today that the focus of the fund will remain on
"encouraging private investment and supporting areas dependent on the public sector".
However, he will signal that the next bidding round will focus on cities, which will be encouraged "to come forward with innovative programmes and packages of projects".
The move may prove unpopular with smaller urban centres and also appeared to open up the prospect of more cash going to local authorities - provided they have a private-sector partner.
Mr Clegg will say: "This additional billion pound boost for British
businesses means the regional growth fund will create an estimated half a million jobs before the end of this parliament.
"With this targeted support for companies, we're unlocking private sector investment, with at least £5 put in for every £1 of public money."
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