A statement from our Chief Executive

"Here at Coast to Capital, we are establishing ourselves as one of the most effective LEPs in the country. We operate to the highest standards of governance and transparency. We are proud that in our Annual Performance Review, Government has awarded us an Exceptional for Governance, along with a Good for Delivery and Achieved for strategy.

Our region is one of the immediately hardest hit by COVID-19 in England, and we have been lobbying Government hard on the importance of supporting our regional economy to rebound in order to support the national recovery. As an immediate response, we have created a new £2 million Backing Business Fund to help businesses adapt and respond to the crisis. We were the first and one of only two LEPs to do this across the whole country. To date, we have awarded £581,593 to 47 businesses across West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and East Surrey. We look forward to sharing the impact of this funding in the coming weeks.

We have more than doubled the number of staff working in the Coast to Capital Growth Hub and have helped more than 75 businesses through our 1-2-1 Emergency Clinics, on topics such as Funding & Finance, HR & Staffing and Mental Resilience. Due to popular demand, we are extending these sessions for a number of weeks throughout May.

In planning for recovery we will be focusing both on our vulnerable sectors and the key sectors of our economy which will be crucial for our future prosperity. I have created a new blog - Economy Watch which will be updated each week to share business stories across all sectors and highlight particular challenges our region is facing. We have already begun a strong regional dialogue on what it will take for our economy to adapt to help lead a national recovery from COVID and this will be reflected in this blog too in advance of the publication of our Local Industrial Strategy.

We are working with our Local Authority partners and other LEPs in the South with Government to discuss how we can use our Local Industrial Strategy as a Regional Recovery Plan. Our influential Board and team are committed to taking a leading role in recovery for the Coast to Capital area and we will keep you up-to-date with future developments."