National Wealth Fund targets North East and South Yorkshire infrastructure pipeline
The government body is expanding its regional investment programme, in a move aimed at helping unlock major infrastructure, regeneration, and growth projects.
The Fund has agreed strategic partnerships with the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Cardiff Capital Region.
The partnerships will give the regions access to the Fund’s investment expertise and capital to help develop project pipelines, attract public and private finance, and bring forward infrastructure schemes capable of supporting economic growth.
The announcement forms part of the National Wealth Fund’s Regional Project Accelerator programme and follows strategic partnerships established last year with Greater Manchester, Glasgow City Region, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire.
For the construction and development sector, the initiative could help projects move through the early stages of development and towards investment readiness, particularly in areas including place-based regeneration, transport and clean energy infrastructure.
The Fund said its regional partnerships model combines its investment and commercial expertise with local knowledge, helping authorities identify opportunities, develop projects and structure financing to attract private investment.
Projects already receiving support through the earlier partnerships include Clyde Metro in Glasgow, the Sports Quarter in the West Midlands, a zero-emission bus fleet in Greater Manchester, and Mass Transit in West Yorkshire.
The latest announcement does not identify individual projects that will receive investment through the four new partnerships.
However, the expansion comes as the government seeks to give mayoral authorities greater responsibility for driving regional economic growth and infrastructure investment. The Chancellor is also announcing wider measures aimed at making it easier to deliver public transport and low-carbon infrastructure projects.
The National Wealth Fund has said it will continue to explore extending the Strategic Partnerships model to other Mayoral Strategic Authorities and city regions.
South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “South Yorkshire has always shaped, made and created the things Britain needs to grow and succeed.
“Today, from the UK’s first Investment Zone and our Don Valley Corridor plan, to being named one of the country’s tech ecosystem’s rising stars, we’re once again putting South Yorkshire at the forefront of Britain’s industrial future.
“With world-leading assets like the AMRC, Boeing, and McLaren rooted here, our partnership with the National Wealth Fund will help us go further, faster – backing brilliant businesses, bringing in investment, and creating the industries, technologies and opportunities that will power growth here in South Yorkshire and across the whole country.”
Oliver Holbourn, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, said: “To unlock the UK’s future we need to grow regional economies. This announcement signals our continued commitment to expanding our partnerships with leaders across the UK, providing tailored support based on local needs and opportunities, creating jobs and spreading the lasting benefits of investment to the local communities they serve.”
