MERSEYSIDE will get at least £60m to drive urban regeneration schemes.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) have each provided £50m for a Jessica (Joint European support for sustainable investment in city areas) fund which will be split into two lots covering Merseyside and the rest of the North West.

The NWDA is now seeking bids to run each separate urban development fund (UDF) from organisations who must provide match funding which, in the first stage, will guarantee £60m for investment across Merseyside.

Bidders can be a private or public body who could involve a private sector partner, such as a bank.

The successful applicant could be named by mid-July.

They will finance urban development projects across the region with the aim of creating or safeguarding thousands of jobs.

NWDA chairman Robert Hough said: “The fund will allow us to invest in projects on a long term and sustainable basis, as an additional tool to grants and is an opportunity for the region to prolong the benefit of our current ERDF programme.”