THE region’s two local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) scooped an impressive £45m in the latest round of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bids.

Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) secured £15m for two – one designed to help smaller firms and the second aimed at attracting foreign investment – while North-East LEP won £30m for an infrastructure fund that will invite bids from companies and public sector organisations.

It is hoped the projects will create thousands of jobs and attract millions of pounds of private investment.

Click here to view the map of how and where the money will be spent

In the south of the region, TVU will create the Contract Catalyst fund – a £10m lending pot for small and medium-sized businesses unable to finance performance bonds, commonly found in construction projects. These require companies to hand over a bond to its client – typically ten per cent of the project’s value – to ensure the contract is fulfilled.

TVU, which hopes to start the fund by April, came up with the idea after talking to Tees Valley businesses.

The second project, which has received £5m from the RGF, will see TVU buy land at Wilton, near Redcar, where many chemical and manufacturing companies are based, and complete groundworks and basic infrastructure ready for more companies to move in.

Stephen Catchpole, TVU’s managing director, said he hoped the catalyst fund would allow firms to both bid for higher-value contracts and free up capital to bid for new contracts before existing contracts finish.

He added: “We hope the Wilton project will encourage companies, particularly overseas firms, to invest in the region.”

The north of the region will benefit from a £30m fund managed by the North-East LEP (NELEP),8 which will allocate finance for infrastructure.

Targeting those projects with the greatest economic returns, the fund aims to create at least 2,333 jobs over ten years through grants and loans to the public and private sectors.

NELEP will seek private sector match funding, and pool other monies under its control, including the existing £25m Growing Places Fund, to maximise infrastructure investments across County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.

Paul Woolston, chairman of the NELEP said: “Timely and targeted infrastructure development is at the heart of a thriving, outward- looking regional economy.”

Simon Henig, deputy chairman of NELEP, said: “It will help to drive the economy not only of this area, but of the UK.”