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West Yorkshire:

European Structural Funds Programmes 2000-2006 are providing grants totalling about £550m to help create wealth and jobs in many parts of West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and The Humber.  West Yorkshire is a compact, complex and populous metropolitan sub-region with good transport links and also possessing rural uplands.  The sheer economic weight of this sub-region is a driving force for economic growth, yet many people have not yet shared in the economic successes. 

Delivery of European Structural Funds programmes is taking place against a backdrop of rapid technological, social and economic change.  Whilst many parts of West Yorkshire are experiencing rapid economic growth, wealth and prosperity has not filtered to all communities.  The Programme areas which are eligible for funding cover urban and industrial centres in West Yorkshire (parts of Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield and central Bradford) all of which have areas that place them within the most deprived districts in England.  Signs are encouraging. However, trends at sub-regional and city level can mask wide variations across communities, neighbourhoods and districts. In fact, the difference between communities is shown markedly in West Yorkshire, in the relative prosperity of Leeds compared to the rest of the region.