The European Union's budget has now been agreed for the next 7 year period and marks the first ever real terms cut thanks to David Cameron's efforts at the European Council meeting earlier this year.
The West Midlands has been allocated funds from the Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) which are two budget lines aimed at stimulating local economic growth and supporting employment.
Examples of previous projects that have benefited from these funds include high-technology research at the regions universities, societies providing business loans to small/medium sized businesses as well as town centre renovation schemes.
Over the period 2014 - 2020 the West Midlands will receive nearly £765million from these two funds. The funds have been allocated between the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) as part of a new decentralised growth programme. Under this new model, decision-making powers will be transferred to local areas with LEPs and local partners will be in charge of European Funds.
The allocation between the different LEPs in the West Midlands is as follows:
LEP
Allocation (£million)*
Black Country
148.1
Coventry and Warwickshire
113.5
Greater Birmingham and Solihull
213.5
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
134.9
The Marches
(Herefordshire and Shropshire)
94.9
Worcestershire
56.8
Specific guidelines on the types of projects that are to be targeted with these funds will be produced by the LEPs in line with the decentralised approach. However all will focus upon providing significant investment in innovation, business, skills and employment in a common agenda for growth and jobs that will integrate effectively with wider LEP Strategic Plans.
*figures converted from € at 1 GBP = 1.19815 EUR
The region will also receive funds from the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), some of which will be channelled through this growth programme. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will publish further details on how this will be allocated at a later date.