FLOOD-hit small and medium firms in Bradford could share up to £5 million of financial aid to help them recover.

A Business Flood Recovery Fund with an initial £1.4 million has been set up to support SMEs in the Leeds city region.

Members of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Board are likely to raise this to £5 million when they meet on February 4.

The new fund , which will be managed by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership , will provide grants of between £5,000 and £100,000.

Money should be available from next week to help SMEs buy new equipment or invest in premises to restart or maintain their operations - and also to make business premises more flood resistant.

Applications will be reviewed individually and will require a detailed flood recovery plan - with help on this from the LEP’s growth managers, local authorities, chambers of commerce and the Manufacturing Advisory Service .

Bradford Council leader Councillor David Green, who chairs the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Investment Committee, said more than 2,000 city region businesses

were thought to have been hit by flooding and the impact on the local economy could be as much as £365 million.

He said: “The funding is about supporting local businesses with their long-term recovery by enabling them to resume trading, safeguarding jobs and re-establishing supply lines to meet their customers’ requirements.

“With over 2,000 Leeds City Region businesses thought to be affected by the recent flooding, we are expecting a high volume of applications to the new Business Flood Recovery Fund but we will turn them around as quickly as possible.

“We will also be investigating ways to potentially provide support for companies that are facing cashflow issues because they are suppliers or customers of flood-hit businesses and will be discussing this on 4 February at the next West Yorkshire Combined Authority meeting.”

Roger Marsh , LEP chairman, added :“This funding is for those businesses that require the highest level of investment to get back towards operating at full capacity. Having visited some of the affected businesses myself, I know how vital this long-term investment is to return to the same level of trade as quickly as possible.

“The devastation of the flood is not going to be fixed overnight. However this funding will complement the initial rapid response support from our partner councils to address the longer term issues and costs businesses face in returning to full operation and alleviate any further impact on business growth.”

To find out more SMEs should call 0113 348 1818 or email businessgrowth@the-lep.com or visit the-lep.com/floodsupport.