A FRESH SIGN THAT WORK MAY FINALLY BEGIN ON THE WESTFIELD DEVELOPMENT THIS YEAR?? £20m loans fund boost for Bradford developments 8:00pm Wednesday 19th June 2013 By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter. Bradford city centre developments are among those which could benefit from the loans fund in the future Businesses struggling to get bank loans will soon be able to apply to borrow cash from a new £20 million pot of public money. The new fund, aimed mainly at developers, is being created by seven local authorities under the Leeds City Region banner. Bradford Council is investing about £4m into the fund which, instead of offering grants, will lend money to firms on a commercial basis and charge interest. As a result, the amount of money in the fund is expected to grow as the scheme progresses. The initiative, called the Revolving Investment Fund, is being led by Bradford Council’s chief executive Tony Reeves. He said local authorities had noticed that there were commercially viable development schemes which were struggling to get full funding from more traditional sources. He said: “We think there’s a bit of a gap in the market at the moment because the banks are recapitalising.” Mr Reeves said for every £1 lent by the councils, private sector partners would be expected to invest £3, meaning the fund could unlock another £60m of private investment in the region. He said it would be aimed at “significant projects that will make a material difference in terms of growth and jobs”. And Mr Reeves said while the fund was designed as a long-term scheme, councils would be free to withdraw the cash they had invested at any time. He said as the scheme had not yet begun, it was too early to say which schemes in Bradford could qualify for the loans. But he said it could bring about investment in Bradford city centre or the Canal Road corridor between Bradford and Shipley. Development firm Westfield said it would not be applying to the fund to finance its Broadway shopping scheme planned for Bradford city centre. Duncan Bower, Westfield’s director of development, said all the funding was already in place and he confirmed that work was scheduled to start this year. He said: “The Broadway project does not require additional funding but we welcome the funding initiative which should assist smaller projects in the City Region to progress.”
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:07:22 +0000
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