It’s all about money

Guildford Borough Council [GBC] and Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership [LEP] have a strongly intertwined relationship, with a former leader of Guildford Borough Council and a leading figure from University of Surrey sitting on it’s board.  The council and the LEP have together created a shared Strategic Economic Plan [SEP] that is seeking funding from the EU (initially £38.54 million) and UK government sources (£70.00 million from the Local Growth Fund for housing alone) and further funding steams such as the New Homes Bonus (GBC received £1.5 million New Homes Bonus 2012/2013) plus others from the Homes & Communities Agency ).  The funding streams are contingent on a growth strategy, stimulating employment and thereby driving local housing demand and potentially stimulating new house building.