A multi-million pound investment in North Yorkshire has helped to create new jobs and boost skills and training while increasing opportunities for the county’s communities.
New data has shown the benefits that have been brought by two national funds that we administered over a three-year period.
A total of £16.1 million of increased investment in the county has been brought about through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Fund.
This increased investment has been triggered after the Government allocated a total of £22.3 million in funding for the two programmes which were administered us up until the end of March this year before handing responsibility to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The fund brought in the further £16 million from other funding sources, bringing the total money spent on projects launched through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund across the county to nearly £39 million.
We distributed the funding through a wide programme of grant and support schemes aimed at businesses and community groups.
Council leader, Cllr Carl Les, who chaired the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Local Partnership Group in the county, said: “The funding has made a real difference to our residents and businesses, providing the opportunity to create new jobs, increase skills and develop valuable projects in our communities.
“The report clearly shows the benefits that have been achieved in North Yorkshire and we are committed to building on the successes of both the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Fund.
“More funding is available now and we will work with our colleagues at the combined authority to ensure that the money is directed at the schemes that will benefit the most across the county.”
The research has shown that the two programmes led to 1,031 jobs being created or safeguarded with a further 11,212 opportunities for volunteering, while the funding led to an extra 235,000 visitors coming to North Yorkshire to enhance the county’s annual £4 billion tourism industry.
A total of 1,300 people were involved in work experience or training to develop their skills, and the green sector was also supported by the introduction of 6,634 square metres of technology to cut carbon emissions – the equivalent size of a football pitch.
The overall programme supported a wide range of initiatives with the majority of funding given as grants to business and community projects with more than 2,000 grants awarded and successfully delivered.
The report drawn up by consultants commissioned by us to analyse the impact of the two schemes has highlighted a key success of the programme in bringing together a wide range of delivery partners and stakeholders across North Yorkshire to create an effective partnership to deliver benefits for organisations, businesses and communities.
Among the organisations to benefit was the Mashamshire Community Office, which received £145,000 in funding to purchase a former police house in Masham in the Yorkshire Dales.
The money was also used to install 10 solar panels on the building’s roof, new double-glazed windows and an automatic front door to improve access, and the project was match-funded by the local community.
The funding also paved the way for an upgrade of the office’s IT systems and new websites as well as additional investment in staffing, including the recruitment of an intern from the University of York.
The office’s staff and volunteers support almost 100 community groups and 100 businesses. They also respond to 10,000 visitor enquiries and more than 6,500 queries from residents each year.
Its community library serves almost 3,500 visitors, volunteers lead 50 wellbeing walks, and the building is also the base for Acorns Pre-School, Citizens Advice, a local branch of the MIND charity and Masham Parish Council.
The Mashamshire Community Office’s manager, Hayley Jackson, said: “The funding has created a ripple effect that has allowed us to successfully apply for other funding and to deliver even more projects.
“All this activity has increased our volunteer numbers by 43 per cent this past year alone, meaning that we now have 73 volunteers with more people locally engaged and giving back to their community. This would not have happened if it were not for the initial investment from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, for which we are very grateful.”
The overall funding from the Government was used to support five-themed programmes to boost productivity, build pride in the county’s places and support communities.
The other themes were to allow people to develop their skills and to help cut carbon dioxide emissions.
In the Autumn Statement in October last year, the Government announced a one-year extension of the UKSPF up until March 2026. This will be delivered by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority which has been allocated £8.7 million in funding.