SINCE the term Northern Powerhouse was first coined by the then Chancellor George Osborne in 2014, there has been some scepticism expressed about what it means and amounts to.
To a degree that’s understandable. Initiatives are launched and people justifiably want to see tangible results – and quickly.
The trouble with a project like the Northern Powerhouse, the sheer scale of it means that it can take time get things up and running effectively.
But this week I am pleased to see the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) swing into action. Across Yorkshire and the North-West briefings are being held to explain to the business community how they can access £400m to boost growth.
The new money is designed provide small and medium-sized businesses with an increased choice of funding and produce greater levels of investment across the Northern region.
Working with ten Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), combined authorities and Growth Hubs, as well as local accountants, fund managers and banks, the fund will provide a mixture of debt and equity capital to small firms at all stages of their development.
The NPIF will offer microfinance (£25,000-100,000), business loans (£100,000- 750,000) and equity finance (up to £2m).
Its primary aim will be to unlock the growth potential of the many innovative firms we have in this region.
Most importantly, this is not solely about boosting businesses in the North’s big cities.
I was most encouraged to hear my fellow Yorkshire MP, the Northern Powerhouse Minister Andrew Percy, make precisely this point last Friday when in North Yorkshire to see the big potash mine project on the edge of the North York Moors.
Like me, Andrew represents a largely rural constituency and he wants rural businesses to benefit from the new investment fund as much as city firms.
Successful, growing businesses are vital to the health of our communities. When Andrew was making his remarks about the importance of spreading growth throughout the region, I was visiting a community project that would have been severely handicapped without the assistance of such businesses.
In Leeming Bar, a band of volunteers are making great progress in converting an old railway carriage on the Wensleydale Railway into a mobile village hall/community space for the village and other communities along the line.
It is a really innovative idea and all credit to the Leeming Bar Residents’ Association for making it happen and local business for backing it.
More than 4,000 volunteer man hours have gone into project so far and financial help has come from a number of sources, including the ice cream makers Froneri (formerly R&R) and meat processors ABP Wessex from the nearby Leeming Bar Industrial Estate.
It is great that we have businesses like these prepared to back the communities in which they are based and I hope with the help of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund we can grow even more enterprises like them to create jobs and opportunities in the years ahead.
You can find out more about the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund at www.npif.co.uk, and the regional briefing events at http://british-business-bank.co.uk/events/.