Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP), who are responsible for getting the £44.2m award and investing it to increase prosperity and sustainable growth in the Buckinghamshire Thames Valley area, welcomed the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP to Amersham & Wycombe College for the announcement. The award follows the submission of a Bucks Strategic Economic Plan proposal in March for a share of a £2bn pot of national money for the development of local jobs and business growth. In addition, over £350,000 has been secured to invest in the further development of the Buckinghamshire Local Growth Hub, which is co-ordinated by Buckinghamshire Business First.

The Buckinghamshire Growth Deal brings together local, national and private funding as well as the freedom to focus on five key priority areas, which are: improving north-south transport connectivity to accelerate the delivery of key housing and employment sites; improving the integration of transport links to CrossRail and East West Rail stations; investing in skills infrastructure and programmes to tackle welfare dependency and improve the skills of young people; creating high quality private sector jobs by supporting businesses to grow; and addressing housing affordability and supply.

Richard Harrington, Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “We are pleased with the announcement that we will receive £44.2m funding to help drive growth and jobs in Buckinghamshire. The competition for funds was intense and although we did not receive our full ask from the £2bn pot this is a good start and the funding will have a significant impact on our continuing delivery of economic growth.”

Alex Pratt, OBE Chair of BBF, the Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership and Chair of the Management Board of the LEP Network, said: “This moment brings us to an exciting new beginning for smart, timely, coalface-inspired growth, but this remains a complex challenge. Now that the Government has reminded us of the colour of our own money, every LEP will be focussing hard on delivering its growth promises.”

In developing the Growth Deal, BTVLEP identified a significant number of key deliverable projects in 2015-16. The projects which received Local Growth Fund support for are:

• Aylesbury Eastern Link Road and Stocklake Link Road scheme;
• High Wycombe Town Centre Masterplan and Southern Quadrant Transport Strategy;
• A355 Improvement Scheme;
• Transforming Amersham and Wycombe College Estate;
• 5G Testbed to stimulate growth in Buckinghamshire electronics and telecommunications sector through early access to 5G technologies;
• CrossRail and East West Connectivity projects.

More details are available in the Strategic Economic Plan & Local Growth Deal executive summary, which can be read here: http://www.buckstvlep.co.uk/strategic-economic-plan

If your businesses is looking to grow and in need of help, please contact Buckinghamshire Business First on 01494 568941 or BusinessSupport@bbf.uk.com.