Councils win £50m for business growth

The cash forms the second tranche of the Government’s relaunched Local Authority Business Growth Incentives (Labgi) scheme that allocates funding to sub-regional groups of councils that have achieved the most growth in business rates over a three-year period.

John Denham said the cash would be used for councils to support "small businesses in hard-hit areas that might need a little jumpstart to get up and running again".

The allocations, which include £12.3 million to Greater London, £2.7 million to Greater Manchester, and £1.4 million to the Black Country, are handed to sub-regions and then distributed to their constituent local authorities according to population size. In areas with two tiers of local government, rewards will be split equally between district and county councils.

Previously, the scheme awarded funding using more complicated measures such as the increases in rateable values of properties rather than increases in business rates. The switch in the fund’s methodology – from allocating cash to sub-regions rather than to individual councils – is intended to reflect the fact that councils increasingly work with other groups to achieve business growth, the Department for Communities and Local Government said.

Details of allocations can be found here.