The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme which is managed by Cornwall Council is on track to deliver £194m of investment into the local economy, creating a forecast 1,400 new jobs and safeguarding a further 330.
To date, 143 projects have been approved for £137m of funding, helping to attract a further £57m of investment, making £194m overall.
Investments range from large-scale strategic funding for emerging sectors like tech metal mining and floating offshore wind, to grassroots community projects, arts and culture, and business and skills support.
The three-year programme will have created hundreds of jobs, upskilled thousands of people, delivered hundreds of square metres of commercial space, supported hundreds of businesses, removed thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide and created acres of green and blue spaces.
But with the funding now all committed, and a deadline of March 2025 for it to be spent, Cornwall Council has written to the new Government seeking clarity about the future of local growth funding for Cornwall and Scilly.
Cllr Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for economy, said:
“The Council has worked incredibly hard to make sure our investment from Government has been allocated wisely and efficiently ahead of all other areas of the country. But for the first time in more than 20 years we are facing a cliff edge where we don’t know what comes next.
"Funding for our current Good Growth Programme ends in March 2025 and at the moment we've no idea what will replace it. This uncertainty risks impacting on our economic ambitions and the contribution we can make to UK growth.
"That's why we are setting out our case to the new Government for a bridging year of Shared Prosperity Funding to 2026, reflecting current levels of investment. And we're seeking commitment to a multi-year settlement for future growth funding with local decision-making so that we can continue our growth trajectory."
Cllr Gardner said that Government funding for local growth in Cornwall and Scilly currently amounted to around £133m per year, taking account of a suite of different funding streams. He said the Council was seeking assurances that this level of funding, as a minimum, would be maintained in the future.
He added that recent data showed that Cornwall was continuing to close the gap on the UK economy, thanks to continued investment. New figures released in 2024 estimate that Cornwall's GDP per head has risen from 70% of the UK average to 74% in 2021, with this maintained in 2022. And since 2008 Cornwall's productivity has grown 40%, a higher rate than the UK average of 33%, albeit from a low base.
Cllr Gardner said:
"We have unfinished business when it comes to our economic ambitions. Although we have come a long way on our journey towards a creative net-zero economy that provides prosperity for all there is still much to do, as set out in our new economic strategy, which sets the direction for future growth. We look forward to working with the new Government to deliver that."
Cornwall's current Good Growth Programme was announced in April 2022 when the then Government awarded Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly £132m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and a further £5.6m from the Rural England Prosperity Fund over three years.
Cornwall Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly were tasked with drawing up an investment plan which focused on communities and place, local business and people and skills. That plan was approved by Ministers in late 2022 after consultation with communities, businesses and organisations about what they wanted to see from a locally based investment programme.
It includes an ambitious commitment to a set of Good Growth Principles, with a focus on green and inclusive growth, creating quality jobs and committing to paying the Real Living Wage.
The programme was three times over-subscribed, with almost 500 applications received for £405m of funding.
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Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Fund
Story posted 17 July 2024