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At least nine bids for Regional Growth Fund (RGF) cash have been submitted from within the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP region. LEP chairman Denys Shortt described several of the bids as “outstanding”.

The Coventry and Warwickshire LEP is one of the first in the country to convene with a fully operational board. Several schemes from the region have bid for a share of the £1.4bn funding pot.

The bids are set to be assessed by a government appointed panel, led by Lord Heseltine, next week.

The RGF is designed to help create long term private sector-led economic growth and employment, particularly in areas that have been reliant on public sector jobs.

Details of several of the bids – which as yet have not been disclosed by the LEP board - were appraised by the new board at its first meeting.

Shortt said: “We have been shown several of the bids and they are outstanding. They show innovation and real potential and would all bring very notable benefits to Coventry and Warwickshire in terms of the jobs they would create.

“The whole focus of the LEP is to try to create growth and to remove the barriers that prevent it. Certainly these bids – which are commercially sensitive – show great potential for growth.

“We are receiving details of new bids every day and are very pleased that the bidders are consulting with the LEP.”

The LEP board – made up of five private and five public sector representatives along with one each from the area’s two universities- has also now begun setting out its priorities for its first 90 days as well as a long-term, five year plan.