200 jobs created as Midlands firms get £1.6 million help from Green Shoots Plus scheme

Twenty-six companies have benefited from the Green Shoots Plus scheme run in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton.

A further £1.2m is in the process of being agreed and more than £1m is still up for grabs.

South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson said: "The success of this scheme continues and I am delighted to hear it is on the verge of hitting another milestone.

"What is so great about this scheme is that it is a partnership between Britain's biggest-selling regional newspaper the Express & Star and an academical institution delivering on the ground and making a difference for lots of people.

"As I have said before, this is a radical approach to handing out Government grants and it must be commended because it is working so well and improving the local economy."

The Express & Star has been given £4.3 million via the Regional Growth Fund to help West Midlands businesses grow and prosper.

Private sector investment of £5.3m has been generated and 174 new jobs have been created.

And a total of 55 current jobs have been safeguarded, thanks to the cash grants approved.

Of 48 bids to the scheme, 10 have come from businesses based in Sandwell, nine in Dudley, eight in Telford and Wrekin, six in Wolverhampton, five each in Walsall and Shropshire, four in Hereford and one in South Staffordshire.

The Express & Star is continuing to push the scheme in Stafford and Staffordshire with the moved backed by Stafford Borough Council leader Patrick Farrington.

Councillor Farrington said: "We have a good track record of backing private enterprise in our borough, and it is great to see the Green Shoots Plus fund and the University of Wolverhampton, which now has a base at the Shire Hall in Stafford, involved in promoting this. This could be a great opportunity for businesses in the borough, and I would urge anyone looking to expand or build their enterprise to find out more."

Applicants can seek a grant worth between £10,000 and £150,000 to cover up to 30 per cent of the costs of their plans for job creation and expansion.

The project is administered by the University of Wolverhampton and overseen by a panel of expert business leaders.

Green Shoots Plus aims to create and safeguard more than 370 jobs at small and medium-sized enterprises across the Black Country, Stafford, South Staffordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Herefordshire.

The fund is aimed at businesses working in advanced manufacturing, building technologies, transport technologies, including aerospace, environmental technologies or business-to-business services, such as accountancy, design and print, electrical, advertising or marketing.

One of those to benefit is engineering firm Link Business in Brownhills. The firm has been given a £59,000 grant towards its £335,000 expansion.

It has helped the company move from four sites around Great Wyrley to a customised single factory at the Coppice Side Industrial Estate in Brownhills to deal with increasing demand for their services.

Applicants need to have been turned down by their banks for the required funding and not to have had more than £175,000 in public funding in the past three years.

Green Shoots Plus is a bigger and wider-ranging successor to the pioneering Green Shoots Fund, which has distributed more than £1m in grants to 35 businesses across the Black Country. The original fund created 129 jobs and safeguarded a further 74.

The Prime Minister David Cameron previously said: "I'm proud that the efforts of Black Country manufacturing businesses are being supported and furthered by the work of the Green Shoots Fund being delivered by the Express & Star and University of Wolverhampton.

"Supporting programmes like this, as well as sticking to our plan of backing small business and enterprise with better infrastructure and lower jobs taxes, will allow us to go on creating more jobs for people in the Black Country, giving more people the security of a regular pay cheque."

Companies can apply at www.wolverhamptonbsc.com/greenshoots or by calling 01902 321272.