One North East hits spending targets

Jan 13 2010 By The Journal

REGIONAL development agency One North East has hit its spending targets after bringing in millions of pounds of European money into businesses in the region.

The agency, which manages the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2007-13 in this region, has successfully delivered against the £20.3m spending target set by the European Commission for the end of 2009.

Since the launch of the European programme, the agency has approved more than 60 ERDF backed projects to directly support innovation, business growth and enterprise across the region. Hitting the first expenditure target is a significant achievement for both the agency and regional partners.

One North East has already confirmed that the JEREMIE venture capital fund – Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises Initiative – the first fund of its type in England, is open for business with an official launch later this month.

This has secured £44.25m of ERDF investment on top of the 2009 spending figure. ONE deputy chief executive Malcolm Page said: "Attaining the n+2 spending target has been a major focus and is excellent news for the North East.

"It’s the culmination of many months of hard work for those who deliver ERDF-approved projects. They have worked closely with the agency to maximise eligible spend and ensure prompt submission of claims.

"It’s been crucial that we and our regional partners have successfully aligned ERDF funding with the agreed priorities of the Regional Economic Strategy, and that we’ve made maximum use of the available funding.

"Had we failed to achieve the required levels of spend, the North East would have been subject to financial penalty and a reduction of ERDF investment in future years.

"We would like to thank all our partners for their efforts in achieving this challenging target and contributing to robust programme management. Their continued commitment to ERDF programme performance will be critical in achieving future n+2 targets and the outputs and results we are committed to deliver."

The ERDF 2007-13 programme is bringing over £300m into North East England to support innovation, enterprise and business support.

It will help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and increase the region’s productivity by £1.1bn per annum.

Thanks to strong negotiation from regional partners in the lead-up to this round of ERDF, the North East secured the biggest per capita European funding allocation of all the English regions.

The target requires that the annual budget allocations for the ERDF must be spent within two years of the year for which they were allocated.

ERDF investment is helping to match fund projects as part of Solutions for Business, the Government’s package of publicly-funded business support designed to help companies start and grow.