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A \u00a350m fund offering loans to creative businesses in the North of England could be set up to help “nurture and export homegrown talent”.<\/p>\n
Regional mayors across the North say the potential move, labelled the “bank of creativity”, would offer a major helping hand to the sector. <\/p>\n
One northern leader said she hoped the ambition would “turbo charge” the creative industries and help businesses struggling to gain help from high-street banks. <\/p>\n
The potential move was revealed at a summit attended by politicians, business people and university leaders in York on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A new partnership board, named One Creative North, has been launched to oversee the development of the bank and promote the sector as a whole. <\/p>\n
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said the fund would help “creative businesses that might not get a warm welcome from a traditional bank”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“The creative industries is already a growing sector and if you turbo charge and invest in a growing sector, you get more growth,” she said. <\/p>\n
“By backing our arts organisations to continue to nurture and export homegrown talent, we\u2019ll deliver the economic growth the North needs and deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Brabin told the BBC it was still to be “worked out” where the \u00a350m would come from, but indicated it would be a mixture of private and public money. <\/p>\n
The summit, held at The Grand hotel, saw the launch of a Manifesto for the North<\/a> by seven elected mayors.<\/p>\n It included calls for a high-speed rail line to be built across the North, following the previous government’s decision to scrap HS2’s second phases after the London to Birmingham line is built. <\/p>\n BBC Yorkshire understands the new government will set out detailed rail plans – including “safeguarding” land which was initially set aside for the northern leg of HS2 – once it has finished its transport policy review.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Transport is an essential part of this Government\u2019s mission to rebuild Britain and we are committed to improving rail connections across the North to support the growth our country needs.”<\/p>\n Listen to highlights from <\/i>North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds<\/i><\/a>, catch up with the latest <\/i>episode of Look North<\/i><\/a> or tell us a story you think <\/i>we should be covering here<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n