Move for £20m investment fund to help boost economy

The South Yorkshire Development Fund would use a pot of money made up of £13m supplied by the European Regional Development Fund and another £7m from the Growing Places Fund, which is already administered by Sheffield Council.

But the money would be used only on schemes which were commercially viable, so the money could then be re-circulated back into future schemes to help the economy grow further.

It is hoped that the fund will be beneficial by providing financing for projects which might struggle to raise the cash that they require through conventional methods.

If the scheme goes ahead, it will need a fund manager, to invest the cash it has available, and also to provide wider investment services across the Sheffield City Region, which takes in a wider area than just the city itself.

Sheffield Council would take a leading role in the project and members of the authority’s ruling cabinet are being asked to approve the scheme when they meets later this week.

Money from the fund would have to meet specific criteria and would not be available for schemes such as housing or retail developments.

A report issued for the cabinet meeting states: “The type of specific projects in Sheffield that could benefit from such an investment might potentially include: acquisition and site remediation/preparation of strategic development sites; contributions to energy-related infrastructure; commercial development, eg Grade A office space.”

The report adds: “A specialist fund manager will need to be procured. The successful fund manager will actively promote the fund, find investable projects, undertake due diligence and make recommendations to the investment board on which projects to support.”

It is expected the fund manager’s expertise will also be used by other partner bodies in the Sheffield City Region.