Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
ERDF payments to restart
Thu 04 Aug 2011
Regeneration activity in the UK looks set to increase after the government confirmed European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) payments are to restart.
According to communities secretary Eric Pickles, the government has "overhauled the management" of ERDF schemes to resolve shortcomings in previous administrative processes.
Indeed, he stated that "bringing them in-house and successfully minimising the liabilities" has yielded positive results, which has in turn been acknowledged by the European Commission.
Mr Pickles said this means that the flow of funding for the ERDF programme can recommence and enable "vital regeneration work to continue" across the UK.
The Department for Communities and Local Government added that various "irregularities in projects" over the last decade had prompted officials in Europe to cease payments, but it insisted the new regime has much "tighter controls" in place.
Roger Fitton, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors, described this as "welcome news", but added: "It is critical that public subsidy is only used where there is simply no market and where its use has a real chance of creating one."
This comes shortly after Birmingham City Council confirmed it is putting in a bid to obtain £20 million from the ERDF as part of a wider plan to boost the region's international competitiveness.
