Firms in the district will, from next month, have access to the biggest tranche of business support cash ever provided in Yorkshire.

The £90m Finance Yorkshire fund has been launched to make up shortfalls in bank lending to start-up and growing companies over four years.

Finance Yorkshire chairman James Newman said he hoped the fund would help hundreds of companies and create or secure thousands of jobs.

The new fund is the first to be available across the whole region.

.Mr Newman said: “Finance Yorkshire will breathe new life into businesses by offering them the means to expand, increase turnover or take on new staff.

“Finance Yorkshire has a great amount of capital to invest, helping to develop economic growth in the region.

“We will be working with the region’s financial intermediaries to ensure businesses receive the appropriate financial backing.”

Finance Yorkshire will offer three types of investment. The Seedcorn Fund will invest between £15,000 and £780,000 in early stage innovative technology and knowledge-based businesses A Small loans Fund will provide unsecured loans for capital expenditure and cashflow finance of between £15,000 and £150,000, with a total of £27m to invest The Equity Fund will make equity-based investments of between £100,000 and £2m.

Around half of the cash for the fund will be provided by Yorkshire Forward with the rest coming from the European Regional Develop-ment Fund and the European Investment Bank.

Regional Minister Rosie Winterton said: “ This fund is exactly what we need as we move out of recovery. It’s the largest fund of its kind we’ve ever had in Yorkshire and will help a wide range of companies.”