What is Objective 2?
Objective 2 is a European Funding Programme agreed between the Yorkshire and the Humber Region and the European Commission for the following purposes:
- to increase the capacity of the Objective 2 area to grow durable, high quality jobs
- to search out and nurture innovation, creativity and dynamism in new and existing businesses
- to improve the ambition and adaptability of under-performing businesses
- to provide imaginative, community led responses to communities struggling with access to jobs; with an absence of jobs; and with the quality of jobs
- to seize opportunities and competitive edge from the area's unique physical, environmental and locational assets.
The Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber is responsible for the day-to-day running of the programme and ensuring that the funding is allocated and spent in line with the priorities of the programme. The Programme is divided into 5 Priorities.
Priority 1: A new entrepreneurship agenda.
This priority will support the creation and survival of more and higher quality businesses.
Priority 2: Bringing down barriers to competitiveness.
This priority aims to improve the competitiveness of existing companies by helping them adapt to and anticipate changing customer demands.
Priority 3: Supporting community –led economic and social renewal.
This priority is targeted at those parts of the Objective 2 area most constrained from participating in economic activity.
Priority 4: Capturing the employment benefits of diversity.
This priority is designed to support key employment locations with investment in infrastructure (land and buildings) and in businesses locating in those key locations. Bradford will deliver this part of the Programme under its agreed Integrated Development Plan.
Priority 5: An Objective 2 Investment Partnership.
This is a single Measure Priority that will provide a financial instrument to underpin actions in the other Priorities.
There are two types of funding involved in the above five Priorities:
- ERDF or European Regional Development Fund – this is mainly used to fund investment in tangible assets such as industrial sites and community buildings, and to provide assistance to organisations such as local businesses and voluntary groups.
- ESF or European Social Fund – this is used mainly for investment in people, to improve their skills and enable them to improve either their own employment prospects or the competitiveness of the organisations they work for.
How much money is there for Bradford?
The Objective 2 Programme will run until 2006/2008, and allocations have been made to the various local and sub-regional partnerships that mean that they can decide how to spend the money.
Bradford has been allocated a total of £25 million so far from Objective 2 and will also benefit from activity taking place both at a West Yorkshire and at regional (Yorkshire) level. This will be more than doubled with matching funding from both public and private sources.
Who is the money for?
Individuals and sole traders cannot apply directly for the funding, but everyone who lives and works in Bradford will benefit from Objective 2. The object of the Programme is to deliver better neighbourhoods, better jobs and a better environment. The benefits of the Programme are achieved through the delivery of projects. Projects are usually run by public sector bodies such as Bradford Council, business support organisations, institutions of learning such as colleges or by voluntary/community organisations.
How can I apply for Objective 2 Funding?
The rules about what can and cannot be funded using European Funding are both strict and complex.
If you are an eligible organisation with a project idea then the first thing you should ask yourself is whether or not your project will deliver one or more of the 5 priorities of the Objective 2 Programme.
Your project must also have positive outcomes in terms of economic impact, e.g. jobs created, people trained - purely social activities are not fundable. You then need to find out whether what you are proposing is eligible for funding from the Objective 2 Programme. Details of what can be funded under each Priority are included in a document called the ‘Programme Complement’.
Objective 2: Programme Complement
Finally, you need to follow a different route depending on which of the Priorities you are applying under.
Priorities 1 & 2 are managed by the Bradford Business Support Working Group. Guidance on how to apply to the Group and advice on eligibility etc can be obtained from the Programme Effectiveness Co-ordinators based in Bradford Council’s External Resources Unit.
External Resources Unit - Get in Touch
Priority 3 is managed by ten Local Development and Employment Pacts.
Priorities 4 and 5 are currently closed for applications.
