23 April 2021

A funding scheme aimed at boosting projects across Sussex, East Surrey, Greater Brighton and Croydon has invested more than £275 million since launching in 2015.

Our government funded Local Growth Fund (LGF) programme has now committed all its funds to more than 90 projects across the region. Over the past six years, we have listened to our businesses and worked with our partners in local authorities and the private and academic sectors to ensure local insight is used to make sustainable investment decisions.

 

The overarching aim of the programme has been to enable inclusive economic growth with a focus on projects which create space for businesses, sustain our flourishing creative and digital sector and support skills. So far, we are on track to exceed our target of: 

 

  • 30,000 jobs/apprentices created 

  • 11,000 homes built 

 

In addition, we are on track to achieve a combined total of more than 800,000 square metres of new and refurbished floor space built and more than 800 kilometres of new roads and cycleways by 2025.

 

Millions of pounds have been invested to make better places for everyone to work in and to live in. At the heart of this is our mission to create to build back stronger, smarter, and greener - working with our partners to make a difference to people and places and ensuring that our region is a fantastic place to live, grow and succeed.

 

Our portfolio includes £10 million towards the redevelopment of Gatwick Airport railway station and £8 million towards a state-of-the-art Engineering and Digital Tech Park at the University of Chichester.

 

Case Study: The Aldingbourne Trust 

 

Founded in 1978, The Aldingbourne Trust has grown to working with more than 1,400 people with learning disabilities and autism in West Sussex to live fulfilled and meaningful lives, supporting people to live independently and have life choices, which we all take for granted.

 

We contributed £1.96 million LGF towards a multi-space commercial and community building at the Trust's Country Centre site. The Quarry Building, which opened in 2019, is the culmination of 10 years of designing, securing support, funding, and construction. It offers a new vision for social care - where local businesses, the community and people who have learning disabilities and/or autism can learn, work, and prosper. It is a model which is attracting international attention. The centre has recently won a prestigious Sussex Heritage Award

 

 

 

Case Study: Plus X 

 

In 2015 we awarded Brighton and Hove City Council with £7.7 million LGF to enable developers to unlock economic and social regeneration at Preston Barracks, and bring the previous military installation site to back to life as a place, rich with culture, community, and opportunity, at the heart of a major University Campus.

 

The ambition was to help cement Brighton's position as one of the best places in the world to be an entrepreneur and an inventor, supporting not only those dealing with digital products and services, but also those making physical products. This is currently being realised through the Plus X site which opened last year, providing diverse and highly flexible workspaces for a range of creative businesses, all with access to workshop spaces and a shared prototyping lab.

 

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Our Investments team is currently working on the final steps of the LGF programme, we will be sharing some more success stories over the coming months. You can find out more about our full portfolio here

 

Brilliant Future 

 

As we reflect on the success of the previous programme, we look forward to new opportunities including as Getting Building Funding and our Regional Transformation Projects programme. We have been successfully allocated £19.2 million Getting Building Funding across 12 projects. A full list of these projects can be found on our website.

 

In addition, we are looking to develop a portfolio of 6-10 projects that can form the centrepiece of our business plan for the year ahead. Our Build Back Stronger, Smarter and Greener document provides a useful overview of our region and the kinds of transformational projects that would help the region recover. With a strong pipeline of regional projects, we would work to attract investment from a wide range of sources. This is part of our wider strategy to diversify our business and ensure that the LEP can build a commercially sustainable model for future project development.  

 

We will be sharing more information on our #BrilliantFuture as soon as we can!

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