£300 million extra to help local businesses

It’s been announced that the Regional Growth Fund, launched in 2010 by Nick Clegg, will be getting an extra £300 million to invest in local businesses.

So far almost £3 billion has been invested in regional companies through the fund, helping them to expand and take on more staff. Local businesses from any sector are able to apply for funding, with over £1.1 billion invested in manufacturing already.

The range of companies taking advantage of the RGF is simply astounding with everything from universities and aerospace companies to green energy producers. The variety of industries taking part in the scheme is testament to the Liberal Democrats desire to see balanced growth across the whole of the UK and not just in London.

In terms of funding the scheme, public money is being bolstered by private investment. For every £1 invested through the RGF, the private sector has put in £5.50 and the total investment of private sector support is expected to reach £16 billion.

The Regional Growth Fund has so far created over 100,000 jobs and a further 480,000 are expected by the mid-2020s.

Local businesses missing out on rates cut

Hundreds of local small and medium size businesses are missing out on business rate discounts which they’re entitled to.

The cost of the discounts is paid entirely by national government but unfortunately Conservative-run Guildford council have been useless when it comes to letting local businesses know that they’re eligible for these discounts.

For example, any retail business with a rateable value (e.g. the official estimate market rent) of less than £50,000 a year can get a £1,000 discount on the business rates they have to pay. There are over 900 businesses in the borough eligible for these discounts but only a fraction of them have applied for them.

Another scheme is that small businesses with a rateable value of up to £12,000 can get up to a 100% discount on rates until March 2015 but again, many small businesses don’t know that they can claim this discount.

There are also discounts for empty new build business premises and for businesses moving into premises which have previously been empty.

But since the council hasn’t written to businesses to let them know if they’re eligible for these schemes it will only be a minority of businesses which have applied for them. So a useful government scheme which could be helping small companies in Guildford, particularly on our high street, and creating jobs isn’t working anywhere near as well as it could be because of Guildford council failing to give people information about it.

This, in many ways, is typical of the council – all too quick to chase after you if they think you owe them money but utterly silent when it comes to letting you know how you can get back money you’re entitled to.

Now, as a Liberal Democrat I believe in standing up for small and medium size businesses, not just big business. Because of that I’ll be going round as many local businesses as I can in Onslow to let them know about these schemes.

But it really shouldn’t be me doing this – it should be the council. I think it’s such a shame that the Conservatives aren’t doing more to help local businesses claim the support they’re entitled to.

For more information about any of these schemes and how to apply then please click here.