European Unit - About us

The European Unit is part of the council's Economic Development Service, whose vision is to 'create a thriving and sustainable economy providing opportunity for all'.

• About our work
• What our work involves
• Achievements
• Contact us

About our work

The team's work involves securing, coordinating, promoting and managing a wide range of funding resources to achieve council objectives through service delivery, partnership activity and strategic development. As well as helping local businesses and residents to get the most out of Britain's membership of the European Union (EU), we work with a number of other funding streams including Government funds in particular money from the Regional Development Agency - Yorkshire Forward (YF), the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), National Lottery as well as other adhoc funds.

Work our work involves

• Promoting the availability of funding for particular projects
• Provision of a comprehensive Funding Information Service (FIS)
• Providing information on funding opportunities to those who can benefit from it and providing appropriate advice and support in developing, co-ordinating and applying for funding, from initial application through to support with grant claims
• Maximising opportunities for joint working, creating and sustaining a climate of partnership
• Providing advice on audits and verification
• Organising seminars and workshops to help people write bids and carry out audit and claims work
• Letting people know how European policies affect Kirklees
• Liaising with key funding organisations such as Yorkshire Forward, the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus, Business Link

Achievements

• Secured over £19.4million of ERDF from 2000-2006 Objective 2 Programme
• £7.35m of ESF money secured through the community initiative EQUAL over the last seven years
• Developed a programme of activity to remove barriers to employment under the Access to Employment Programme funded through Yorkshire Forward for £1.7m
• Ran a Skills programme supported by the Learning and Skills Council and Yorkshire Forward, securing funding of £2.5m for Kirklees
• Secured £2.8m of IMPACT funding from Yorkshire Forward which connected people to local job opportunities and a further £4.2m under the skills and A2E themes of the West Yorkshire Investment Plan. The funding secured was a mixture of European Social Fund and Yorkshire Forward.

Contact us

Email: heather.waddington@kirklees.gov.uk
Tel:01484 221679

Or write to us at:

European Unit
Economic Development Service
Kirklees Council
Civic Centre 3
Huddersfield
HD1 2EY