Decision details

The fixed profile of the Investment Zone funding means that allocations to projects must be phased carefully to enable them to run each year without pauses in activity or delay to their work.

The Decision allows projects agreed between the GMCA and the government in March 2024 to take place.

The GMCA agreed to delegate authority to the GMCA Chief Executive on 29 November, in consultation with the Treasurer, and the Economy Portfolio Chief Executive and Leader, to negotiate with Government and agree project allocations in each financial year to 2028/29.

Background

The March 2023 budget announced the Investment Zones policy, giving Greater Manchester a funding envelope of £80 million between 2024/25 and 2028/29 to support growth and innovation in the Advanced Materials and Advanced Manufacturing sector.

From March 2023 to April 2024, the government worked with GMCA to co-develop and iterate proposals for funding. These were co-designed with local partners, including universities and signed off by the government in March 2024. The full summary of these projects was set out to the GMCA in the meeting of 12 July 2024.

GMCA has already distributed the first year of funding for the Investment Zone programme; in 2025/26 the GMCA will receive a further £17.76 million to distribute to projects in the financial year. Funding is divided between £10.8 million of capital funding and £6.96 million of revenue funding.

On 29 November 2024 the GMCA agreed to delegate authority to the GMCA Chief Executive Officer in consultation with the Treasurer and the Economy Portfolio Chief Executive and Leader, to negotiate with Government and agree project allocations in each financial year to 2028/29.

The Chief Executive’s decision is to make the following funding allocations of Greater Manchester’s Investment Zone Flexible Funding to agreed projects in the financial year 2025/26. Note, allocations have been expressed in £ million.

Capital funding allocations
• A £0.5 million allocation to the Sister Joint Venture for the continued development of the Sister innovation district in Manchester.
• £3 million to the University of Salford for the continued development of the Acoustics Innovation Institute.
• £1 million to Manchester Metropolitan University to purchase equipment for the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
• £0.1 million to the University of Manchester to purchase equipment for the ID Manchester Deep Tech Innovation Programme.
• £0.01 m to the GMCA to distribute as direct investment into advanced materials and manufacturing businesses through the GM Advance Investment Fund (to be used by recipient businesses for capital investment).
• £0.6 million for the University of Bolton (now the University of Greater Manchester) to continue the purchase of equipment for and the fit out of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing.
• £5.2 million in co-funding to Rochdale Council for the development of the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (SMMC), a translational research centre at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale.
• £0.4 million to the Growth Company for the distribution of grants to businesses through the Made Smarter Graduate Programme.
Revenue funding allocations
• £0.5 million in revenue grant to Bury Council to support the design and preparation for the development of the Atom Valley Western Access Road.
• £0.8 million for the Atom Valley based SMMC to build a translational research organisation, funding a team that will engage with and support businesses.
• Continuation of funding for new research and innovation programmes led by universities, including £1 million for the University of Manchester Deep Tech Innovation Programme, £1 million for the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Innovation Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University, and £1 million to the University of Salford to begin the NERIC programme.
• £0.9 million to the GMCA for the GM Advance revolving investment fund to distribute as direct investment to advanced materials and manufacturing businesses (to be used by recipient businesses for ongoing revenue costs).
• £0.3 million to begin skills and technical training programmes run via local authorities and the University of Bolton.
• £0.8 million in revenue to the Growth Company for the establishment of new business support programmes: a MIDAS pilot programme in a foreign market, the Made Smarter Graduate Programme, and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Supply Chain Development.
• £0.5 million for the GMCA to distribute to local authority planning teams to increase their capacity via a Planning and Development fund.
• £0.2 million for the GMCA in administrative funding to run the programme.

Following the delegation by the GMCA on 29th November, the Chief Executive will distribute defined allocations for the financial year 2025/26 from Greater Manchester’s Investment Zone Flexible Funding to the GM projects the government agreed with GMCA in March 2024. The government agreed to fund five-year projects running between 2024/25 and 2028/29, working with GMCA to prepare the amount of funding each project needs over this period. This was signed off by the government in March 2024.

Because the government releases Investment Zones funding in annual tranches to GMCA each financial year, each year the GMCA needs to distribute allocations to keep the agreed projects running: the Chief Executive’s decision is to distribute these project allocations for 2025/26.