The funding that Cornwall currently receives from the European programme has been guaranteed for another two years.
Cornwall Council and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said they are “delighted” to receive news that the current European Structural & Investment ESI 2014-2020 programme period and allocation will now be covered until 2020.
Back in 2016, the UK Government announced that funding would be guaranteed for ESI Funds projects contracted up to March 2019. The Government announced yesterday (July 24) an extension to this guarantee, which will now cover the full 2014-20 programme period and allocation in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The extension means that departments will continue to sign new projects after EU exit during 2019 and 2020, up to the value of programme allocations.
LEP chairman, Mark Duddridge, said: “This reassurance is exactly what the business community in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly needed to hear, the Growth Programme is working and projects are delivering outputs. We would encourage all businesses to engage with the projects and future calls to ensure we all maximise the potential of the EU funds to 2020.”
Highlight Growth Programme projects include the Growth & Skills Hub, complemented with the business support projects, the work to heat Jubilee Pool in Penzance by using geothermal heat, inclusion and skills support to enable individuals to return to and progress in employment, and the recently launched CIoS Investment Fund.
Cornwall Council Leader Adam Paynter added: “I am pleased that this funding has been confirmed so that the vital work which will benefit our residents can continue in the knowledge that funding is guaranteed until 2020.”
