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Top Story
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Funding boost for Merseyside urban development projects
Merseyside is expected to benefit from around £60m of funding to finance urban development projects across the region over the next five years. The cash is part of the £100m Northwest Urban Investment Fund to provide debt, equity and guarantee investment to schemes that will develop employment sites, create new commercial floor space, and reclaim derelict land. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have each put £50m into the scheme, which will be managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EIB will now set up “three or four” Urban Development Funds to manage the investments, with Merseyside expected to be awarded its own specific fund. Robert Hough, chairman of the NWDA, said: “The returns from these investments can be reused on other projects again, and again, extending the life of our European funding and helping us to maintain a level of physical regeneration during the challenging economic climate.”
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Today's news
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Councils secure market renewal cash
Liverpool and Wirral councils have secured £4.7m of funding from the government’s Growth Point initiative which will be used to enhance market renewal areas. The councils plan to use the cash to provide new housing and make transport and environmental improvements. Part of Liverpool’s £2.8m allocation will be used to provide more affordable housing through a mortgage loan scheme. Marilyn Fielding, executive member for Safer, Stronger Communities at Liverpool City Council, said: “It will help develop our local communities by creating new homes and improving the environment.”
Liverpool companies to get investor ready
Two Liverpool businesses have been selected to take part in a new initiative designed to help them get investor ready. Digital agency Mando Group and interactive digital gift company Little World Gifts will take part in the Fast Company programme developed by Northwest Vision and Media in partnership with financial investment services specialist Pembridge Partners and business coaching consultant The Green Field. The scheme aims to help small creative and digital companies realise the value of their business and will assists them in accessing the most suitable funding available to them. A total of eight businesses in the North West have been chosen to take part.
Your CVA questions answered
The Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), which allows troubled businesses to pay back all or part of their debt to creditors over an agreed period of time, has been a useful tool over the past year. But what are the key benefits and why are they controversial? In this week's Ask the Expert, sponsored by Merrill DataSite, Bill Dawson, partner in the reorganisation services team at Deloitte in the North West, has been answering your questions on CVAs. To read his answers, click here.
Skills operation at Liverpool hospital
More than 50 staff at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital are being given training to develop skills in business administration, customer service and information technology. Training provider Sysco will train 53 non-clinical staff in partnership with the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), Skills for Health Academy and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Trust. The hospital’s chief executive Raj Jain said: “Upskilling is part of our wider social responsibility. The apprenticeship programme is a great way to identify and support the needs of our staff, the needs of the local community and the hospital itself.”
The Jones boys combine at JJB
Wigan retailer JJB Sports has appointed Keith Jones, formerly group retail director of Dixons, Currys and PC World parent DSG International, as its new chief executive. Jones, who has also worked for Virgin and B&Q, will start before next March. Chairman Sir David Jones said: “I am delighted to welcome someone of Keith's calibre. JJB has been through a lot but we have now reached a stage where we have the funding, the strategy and the team to plan for the future.”
Region’s economic growth continues
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics have placed Merseyside 32nd out of 37 UK sub-regions in terms of economic output per head of population. The region’s GVA per head was £14,155, compared with a UK average of £19,951 and North West average of £17,555. However, the figures also confirm a ninth year of GVA growth and show a 4.8 per cent improvement on the figure achieved in 2007.
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Something for the weekend
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Who’s charted?
Big hand for Vernon Burgess, the UK’s best known Big Issue seller and cult TV star who will donate 10 per cent of profits from his life-on-the-streets Christmas single Vernon’s Song to Liverpool Habitat for Humanity, in Granby-Toxteth, a development of 32 homes designed to help low-income families onto the housing ladder. Burgess, who also recorded a Christmas single in 2006, has been doing some volunteer work at the scheme this week. Fair play, his record has to be a million times better than Phil Collins’ Another Day in Paradise, anyway.
Mancs, Scousers unite in criminal conspiracy
This week’s “Are they serious?” story came on Tuesday morning, when it emerged that Lancashire Constabulary plans to cut crime by stopping cars on the main routes in from Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Assistant chief constable Andy Cooke roared: "Our message is simple. If you want to come to Lancashire to commit robberies and burglaries and steal high-powered vehicles, don't bother because we will catch you!" Best of all was the Lancashire Evening Post reporting the story online with an image of Harry Enfield’s comedy Scouser character. “Fanning” and “flames” spring to mind.
Canapé won’t pay
Although we’re not in the business of giving away free advertising, a hearty thank you to the well-known Liverpool PR man who this week dispatched a game pie featuring partridge, pheasant, woodcock and woodpigeon to Insider Towers. Top shooting sir! And spare a thought for Deloitte tax partner Sean Beech, who struggled gamely to host a breakfast seminar on tax and the Pre-Budget Report only hours after arriving back from watching some football team in Germany on Tuesday night. Good job the coffee was strong.
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Manchester
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Telephone: +44 (0)161 907 9711
Email:
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