Chancellor is urged to back the Great South West

THE Chancellor’s interventions to support the tourism and hospitality trade are “extremely welcome in our area, with 7,345 businesses in this sector”, Karl Tucker, chair of the Heart of the South West local enterprise partnership, said.

The Westcountry may suffer a deeper and longer recession due to the tourism and entertainment trade being the last to return, Mr Tucker said.

He called on the Chancellor to recognise and back the Great South West as part of its levelling-up agenda. The LEP has asked for £2 million funding to create a thorough economic plan.

“We hope that the South West corner will be given as much attention as the north and other areas of the country,” Mr Tucker said.

“We echo the Chancellor’s sentiment that the job has only just begun.

“We submitted a bid for £121 million to the Government’s Getting Building Fund, and we were pleased to get the highest allocation in the South West of £35.4 million as an initial down payment on our ambitions.

“We hope the Chancellor’s Covid economic mitigation plan – which he referred to as ‘historic investment in infrastructure creating jobs in every region and nation of the UK’ – will bring a further catalyst of investment in our robust pipeline of growth-generating projects.

“The three-point plan to help people find jobs, create jobs and protect jobs will be supported by our careers services and Growth Hub, and we welcome the measures to support extra training and apprenticeship schemes.”

Mr Tucker added:“A new £2 billion green homes grant for energy efficiency will help us roll out more schemes as part of our South West energy strategy which we developed with our neighbouring LEPs.

“We welcome the aim to create a green recovery, with the Heart of the South West’s key opportunities already centred on clean and inclusive growth, and the Great South West ‘Securing Our Future’ prospectus having the vision to create the UK’s leading green and blue economy.

“We look forward to working with Government to Restart, Revitalise and Grow.”