Cumbria County Council has injected £100,000 into a new job creation programme which is aiming to create 100 new jobs in the county within the next seven months.
At a meeting of the county council's cabinet today (September 1) it was agreed to give the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and Industry a grant of £100,000 for a business start-up project which will run from September 2008 until March 31 2009. The project is filling a gap in business support provision as the main business start-up project in the county, known as Point 2, has recently ended.
Any potential business start-up is eligible to apply for assistance under the new project, which will be managed by the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, although companies which are likely to achieve profits over £12,000 in their first year of trading will be targeted in particular. The project will cover all areas of the county except for West Cumbria, which already has an established business start-up programme supported by the West Cumbria Development Fund.
The cost of the project will be met from part of the £350,000 paid to the county council by Capita when it fell short of its target to create 1,000 jobs by 2009. Should the new Cumbria Chamber of Commerce business start-up project fail to achieve its target of 100 jobs, £1,000 will be returned to the council for each job below the target level.
Cllr Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council's cabinet member responsible for economic development and regeneration, said:
"From small acorns mighty oaks can grow and nvesting in business start-ups is essential for the medium to long-term prospects for the Cumbrian economy.
"By supporting this new project, the county council is effectively investing £1,000 in every new job created. But the amount of money that each new job will bring into Cumbria far outweighs that intial investment. You reap what you sow and this new project will be sowing the seeds of future success for the county."
ENDS
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