At St Edmundsbury Borough Council's annual business meeting on Wednesday Trevor Conway, EEDA business finance manager, said: "I have a budget of £12 million a year that I'm desperate to give to businesses in the East of England."

It is often during times of recession that innovative business ideas thrive but despite reporting significant increases in applications for grants, strong demand for growth loans and high interest in a new EEDA programme, Understanding Finance For Business, there remains huge amounts of EEDA funding left untouched.

The reason for the unused funds may be partly explained by the increased delays in businesses proceeding with EEDA approved grants, that they have to be part-matched by the business.

Businesses in need of funding are advised to look at the business map on EEDA's website, which gives information about public sector support available. Log on to www.eeda.org.uk/finance


Click here to go back to our main news index.