Gloucestershire Growth Deal

Since 2014, we’ve secured £101.69 million of funding, and we’ve allocated it to a number of important projects to help Gloucestershire grow.

What's a Growth Deal?

Growth Deals are government schemes that provide funds to LEPs for projects that benefit the local area and economy. We’ve made three successful applications for Growth Deal funding so far, which has provided us with the money we need to make improvements throughout the region.

In February 2017, we were able to confirm funding of £29.13 million, which has been split between three key projects:

Longford Housing – £4.53 million
Cheltenham Cyber Park – £22 million
Gloucestershire College, Forest of Dean Campus – £2.6 million

In January 2015, we were delighted to confirm £15 million of funding in January 2015, which has seen up to 6,000 jobs being created or safeguarded, and approximately 400 new homes built, along with the potential to generate up to £220 million in public and private investment within Gloucestershire.

Improvement to Gloucestershire Airport infrastructure – £550,000

Funding for Gloucestershire Airport enabled a new road to be built, a development which will bring further investment into the county, encourage skilled jobs to the region, and attract expanding and relocating businesses to Gloucestershire.

Blackfriars and Quayside regeneration – £4.13 million

We are funding a sustainable and viable development of this key 2.53-hectare Gloucester city centre site for domestic and commercial use.

Agri-tech facilities at Farm491 – £2.92 million

Developed as a co-working environment for innovators to grow their businesses by applying technology to agriculture, the Farm491 hub will provide high-spec facilities to foster entrepreneurship, ideas and collaboration.

Retail entrepreneurship support – £400,000

Support for retail entrepreneurship and provision of high street incubation space in Gloucestershire.

Additions to the planned Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering and Nuclear skills centre at Berkeley – £7 million total, including the following:

A new Cyber Security Training and Conference Centre to build Gloucestershire’s skills base in this fast-growing sector – £3 million

Our Initial Proposal

Following our initial proposal, we were granted £62.5 million in July 2014, helping to create up to 5,000 jobs and generate up to £40 million in public and private investment. This deal is part of our wider Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), which is currently leading to the creation of 34,000 jobs in the region.

The Growth Hub

The Growth Hub is a unique partnership between the University of Gloucestershire and GFirst LEP to enable businesses to achieve their true growth potential. Opened in October 2014, The Growth Hub offers physical access to the county’s business support services and provides a central workspace, meeting place and educational facility for local businesses.

GREEN

The Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering & Nuclear (GREEN) Skills Project is a partnership between GFirst LEP and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. GREEN is a world-class centre of excellence for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training, providing workforce development training and apprenticeship opportunities, and is based at the decommissioned Berkeley power station site.

The Growth Zone

The Growth Zone allows us to further develop the availability of employment land along the M5 corridor, attracting and retaining high-value-added businesses by providing valuable space and the necessary transport infrastructure for business expansion.

Our initial focus is on development at junction 9 and junction 10 of the M5, and, in particular, the opportunity provided by the Ashchurch Ministry of Defence site near Tewkesbury.

Infrastructure

In addition to the projects above, the government also confirmed investment in major infrastructure schemes across Gloucestershire:

£4.36 million will improve the A419 corridor between Stonehouse and the M5.
£1.15 million will improve access to the Berkeley site for the GREEN project.
£4.7 million will ensure the redevelopment of the Kings Quarter bus station in Gloucester.
£1 million will develop a robust transport strategy for Lydney.
£1.99 million allocation to repair the Berkeley Bridges, reducing travel times on the A38.
£3.8 million allocation to fund the Cinderford Northern Quarter Link Road.
£2 million allocation to upgrade the Gloucester South West bypass.
£1.6 million allocation to upgrade the B4063 Staverton Bridge junction.

The Gloucestershire Growth Deal also ensures that the Highways Agency is committed to working with Gloucestershire County Council to develop a compelling business case to secure funding to address the A417 Missing Link.