Manchester consortium bids to run £50m development fund

Home » Finance » Finance policy » Manchester consortium…

Manchester consortium bids to run £50m development fund

12/05/10 5:08 pm By Richard Heap

A consortium led by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) is bidding to control a £50m-plus fund to invest in northwest development projects.

The fund will initially comprise £50m, made up of two pools of £20m each – one for Greater Manchester and one for Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire – plus a further £10m to be spent in each area. Merseyside is not included in the fund because it will be the subject of a separate urban development fund.

Sir Howard Bernstein (pictured), chief executive of Manchester City Council, is applying on behalf of AGMA, Cumbria, Cheshire and Lancashire.

The money has been allocated from the northwest’s share of the European Regional Development Fund as part of the JESSICA – Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas – scheme.

AGMA’s executive board has approved for a consortium of AGMA, CB Richard Ellis and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to apply to the European Investment Bank to administer the funding pot. It would be a loan fund to invest in projects that would generate a financial return, which would be “recycled” to keep the fund going.

Bernstein said: “We have worked to very tight timescales to progress this bid but the fact that AGMA has been able to put this together, with the support of Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, is another example of our ambitions for the region and how effectively its partners can work together.”

Sarah Whitney, head of regeneration and development at CB Richard Ellis said: “JESSICA is a means of ensuring a lasting legacy from the ERDF programme and has the potential to be a significant catalyst in the establishment of a major northwest fund in support of the City Region’s long term strategic regeneration objectives.”

Peter Morris, director of pensions for the Greater Manchester Pension Fund said: “GMPF brings many years’ experience investing in the region’s development and regeneration schemes to the consortium.”