Purpose

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 two years of funding for the Industrial Strategy Zone programme (formerly Investment Zone programme). For 2026/27 the programme will receive a further £19 million to distribute to projects in the financial year. Funding is divided between £12.2 million of capital funding and £6.8 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 agree project allocations in each financial year to 2028/29.

The Chief Executive’s decision is to make the following funding allocations for the agreed projects within Greater Manchester’s Industrial Strategy Zone Flexible Funding in the financial year 2026/27.

Capital funding allocations
• £8.5 million in capital grant to Bury Council to support the development of the Atom Valley Western Access Road.
• £1.8 million allocation to the Sister Joint Venture for the continued development of the Sister innovation district in Manchester.
• £0.03 million to Manchester Metropolitan University to purchase equipment for the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
• £1.5 million to the GMCA to distribute as direct investment into advanced materials and manufacturing businesses through the GM Advance Investment Fund.
• £0.4 million to the Growth Company for the distribution of grants to businesses through the Made Smarter Graduate Programme.
Revenue funding allocations
• £0.8 million for the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (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 £1.2 million for the University of Manchester Deep Tech Innovation Programme, £1.11 million for the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Innovation Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University, and £0.91 million to the University of Salford for the NERIC programme.
• £0.25 million to the GMCA for the GM Advance revolving investment fund to distribute as direct investment to advanced materials and manufacturing businesses.
• £0.43 million to the Growth Company for the Made Smarter Graduate and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Supply Chain Development programmes.
• £0.41 million to MIDAS for the continuation of an in-market inward investment pilot.
• £0.5 million for the GMCA to distribute to local authority planning teams to increase their capacity via a Planning and Development fund.
• £1.15 million total to four GM local authorities, Rochdale, Stockport, Trafford and Wigan, for the establishment of their supporting skills programmes.

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 agree project allocations in each financial year to 2028/29.

Decision

Following the delegation by the GMCA on 29th November 2024, the Chief Executive will distribute defined allocations for the financial year 2026/27 from Greater Manchester’s Industrial Strategy Zone Flexible Funding to the GM projects the government agreed with the 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.