Insider Media Limited

More than £50m is set to be ploughed into West Midlands infrastructure projects after funding was confirmed by the government. The Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) told Insider it will release a list of successful projects within four weeks, while The Marches LEP was delivered a larger portion of funding than originally announced.

Of the six West Midlands LEPs, Greater Birmingham and Solihull (GBSLEP) was handed the largest portion of cash - £15.2m - which is set to be spent on creating residential developments and kick-starting other infrastructure projects.

The Black Country was next with £9.8m obtained from the fund. Coventry's organisation was given £8.6m and Stoke and Staffordshire secured £7.7m; The Marches was given £5.5m and Worcestershire obtained £3.7m.

The government announced the final handouts yesterday (1 February).

Dr Geoffrey Davies, chairman of The Marches LEP, told Insider the organisation had received £100,000 more than was originally planned.

"The announcement means that we can get on with the business of helping to revitalise stalled projects which will, in turn, create sustainable private sector employment," he said.

"The LEP is currently in discussions about which projects should be prioritised locally, with the funding available to help with capital costs for schemes extending to land and property, transport, utilities, broadband and flood defences."

Worcestershire LEP's executive director Gary Woodman told Insider that the group was aiming to announce the projects which will successfully receive Growing Places funding later this month.

"Back in November, we called for potential projects from the private and public sector which could unlock jobs in Worcestershire," he said. "We’ve been well oversubscribed with bids, which has created a long list of projects, worth much more than the value of the Fund.

"A sub-group of the board is meeting with projects to assess their ability to meet the criteria of the fund and we hope to announce the successful projects at the Worcestershire LEP conference on the 23 February 2012."

The £15.2m secured by the GBSLEP will help create 100,000 jobs by 2020 across Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Solihull, Tamworth and Wyre Forest.

Paul Heaven, GBSLEP board member, said the organisation was looking to identify "shovel ready" projects set to start on site by the early summer.

"This would mean that, the end of the year, we will be able to see real progress and a pipeline of new exciting developments coming forward," he said.