The delivery of a suite of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) business support activities was a new prospect for Worcestershire County Council (WCC). This final evaluation is the first comprehensive project performance review of the programmes run by WCC involving a survey of nearly 300 businesses. It included inward investment activity, enterprise support, loans, resource efficiency, cyber support, strategic business engagement, proof of concept funding and graduate support.

Our report concluded that County can, and should, continue to play a key role in the delivery of a rich portfolio of economic activity building on its experience to date.

Our work included detailed case studies, an assessment of the performance and net impact of the programme and a qualitative reviews of performance.

“ERDF was new territory for the County and we identified strong economic impacts and evidence of business endorsement and wider benefits. There were some lessons learnt in delivery but partners were generally satisfied with progress and there was a good network of delivery partners”.
Karl Dalgleish, Study Director (Kada), Dec 2015