Additional funding has been approved for the latest series of measures to help Leicester’s economic recovery post Covid-19.
£370,000 has been set aside to deliver a programme of long-term support and development of the city’s creative and cultural economy.
The funding will focus on four key areas, designed to build on existing strengths and set out a sustainable framework for future work.
A total of £30,000 is earmarked for projects working with partners, including both universities, to support research and new thinking into the major economic, social and environmental challenges facing the city, focusing on areas such as support for more ‘green jobs’ in the local economy.
£125,000 will be invested in support for the city’s cultural and creative economy, looking at the viability of major cultural development projects, and devising a longer-term vision for expanding the city’s cultural and creative industries sector. This funding will also support the creation of a new archive celebrating the contribution to the East Midlands of communities from Africa and the Caribbean.
£65,000 will be put into work to attract inward investment into the city, by developing a long-term city growth plan to highlight opportunities for potential investors and developers and support other initiatives to attract investment and drive business recovery.
A programme of “Animating the City” activities, building on the success of the Summer in the City programme, will receive £150,000, to draw up a diverse range of activities to encourage people into the city in 2022.
The work marks the latest stage of work by the city council as part of its Economic Recovery Plan, which was drawn up a year ago to set out a framework for ensuring the city bounced back from the disruption of 2020 and the first part of 2021.
The latest funding will be drawn from money set aside to finance Covid-19 recovery measures.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “We drew up the Economic Recovery Plan back in November 2020 as a roadmap to ensure the city’s economy was able to come back in a strong position after the upheaval caused to the lockdowns.
“This additional funding will help accelerate that recovery as we move forward. The measures set out here are all designed to enable short and long-term growth in the economy, attracting investment, generating footfall and promoting the city, which are all vital steps to ensure we emerge from Covid-19 in as strong a position as possible.”
