Proposals that could boost investment in the local economy are under review following talks between the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and bankers from Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Santander UK and HSBC.
The talks agenda focussed on:
- Lobbying Government in advance of the March 21 Budget on advancing investment in the local economy and SMEs. Access to finance is cited as local businesses’ greatest barriers to growth.
- Measures to tackle high levels of youth unemployment, looking at the Backing Young Bristol campaign and ways the banking sector can support it and other initiatives
LEP vice chair and city council leader Barbara Janke added: “The Centre for Cities latest report again highlights the role successful cities like Bristol can play in driving growth and creating jobs. Indeed Bristol now has the highest employment rate of any major city and we must build on this.
“We’ve been clear for a long time that we want local authorities to be more financially independent of central government. The banks were receptive to our innovative ideas for how we could support investment in the local economy, such as tax increment financing or municipal bonds.”
