Further Education colleges and registered skill providers in the Coast to Capital Region are being invited to bid for a slice of £10m of Government funding for projects which will support economic growth in the region.
Coast to Capital is launching a Skills Capital Fund that will also back schemes aiming to provide excellent and inspiring education facilities.
The money has been made available to the LEP, which represents more than 85,000 businesses, after it agreed a Growth Deal with the Government which confirmed £21m could be accessed for Skills infrastructure in the region between 2015 and 2017. With £11m having already been allocated for projects in 2015/16, Coast to Capital is now seeking applications for the remaining £10m for the following financial year.
"The objectives of the Skills Capital Fund are to enable the provision of good quality accommodation and specialist equipment to make a direct contribution to the economic growth in the Coast to Capital region, support education and training and helping learners reach their potential," Coast to Capital chief executive Ron Crank said. "There will be no minimum or maximum project value for applications but we will expect applicants to provide a minimum funding contribution equivalent to two-thirds of the project value."
He added: "We also recognise that some providers may have more than one project that meets the criteria so they can submit more than one application, but they need to prioritise the applications clearly."
Coast to Capital has secured the support of the Skills Funding Agency to advise on the capital funding processes and undertake the technical assessments and scoring of applications.
The deadline for the first round of applications is Friday 28 November and Coast to Capital will publish its decisions on these applications on Friday 30 January. Successful first stage applicants will then be asked to provide further detailed information before an announcement is made on the approved projects at the end of June 2015.
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