NEW Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is urging businesses in need of investment to get in touch.

THe LEP is bidding for Government cash to create a Business Growth Fund to help businesses in the Ipswich, Waveney, Great Yarmouth and Norwich local authority areas to expand and take on staff.

If ther bid is successful, the fund will offer grants of between �50,000 and �150,000, with businesses required to match every �1 awarded with �4 of their own finance, which could iniclude bank or other loan finance.

“Our bid will be in competition with other parts of the country, and in order to show the Government our area needs the funds, we are calling on businesses who might be interested to get in touch,” said a spokesman for the LEP. We want to hear from businesses who might be interested if the funding was available.”

New Anglia chairman Andy Wood said: “Our role is to support businesses and help them grow. We know businesses cannot always access the finance they need to grow and this fund is designed to help close that gap.”

To register interest, businesses need to complete a short online survey, which closes on Friday, June 8.

It can be accessed at www.newanglia.co.uk or www.surveymonkey.com/s/C9SP55Z .