The Northwest Regional Development Agency is planning to set up a EUR50m (GBP46m) Jessica holding fund in cooperation with the European Investment Bank to support projects that will hel
The Northwest Regional Development Agency is planning to set up a EUR50m (GBP46m) Jessica holding fund in cooperation with the European Investment Bank to support projects that will help regenerate sustainable development in the North West’s urban areas.
The organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding, which includes the provision of an evaluation study of the North West under the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas initiative (Jessica).
Jessica is a joint European Commission and European Investment Bank initiative, supported by the Council of Europe Development Bank, which promotes urban regeneration projects.
By establishing a Jessica holding fund, the North West will work with the European Investment Bank to invest European structural funds in integrated and sustainable urban regeneration projects.
The memorandum of understanding which establishes this agreement was signed in Warrington by Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank vice-president, and Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Brooks says: ‘This collaboration between the EIB and the Northwest Regional Development Agency builds on the EIB’s reinforced commitment to support SME activities and sustainable urban regeneration in the current financial and economic crisis. We intend to use EIB financial resources to their full advantage, and where appropriate, to complement the investment of European structural funds in the region.’
Broomhead adds: ‘This initiative is an opportunity for the region to put a mechanism in place that will ensure we can prolong the benefit of our European Regional Development Fund programme. Jessica will allow us to invest in revolving funding, in addition to the normal single use grants. This might be in the form of equity, loan or guarantee perhaps which can then be re-used on other projects again, and again, extending the life of our European funding and helping us to maintain a level of physical regeneration during the difficult economic climate.’
The memorandum of understanding provides for a Jessica evaluation study for the North West, funded jointly by the European Commission Directorate General for Regional Development and the EIB.
It will establish how Jessica funding can assist most efficiently and effectively in the delivery of urban regeneration projects that form part of integrated urban development plans and strategies in the region. It will also consider how these projects can help the North West to meet the objectives set for the area in the European Regional Development Fund Operational Programme 2007-2013.
The North West is the second English region to sign a memorandum of understanding for a Jessica initiative, following a similar agreement between the EIB and the London Development Agency in December 2008.
The Northwest Regional Development Agency says Jessica – Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas – is one of a series of irritatingly contrived acronyms for so-called cohesion policy joint initiatives developed by the European Commission with the aim of making EU cohesion policy more efficient and sustainable.
