EIGHTEEN staff are to lose their jobs after the collapse of South Lakeland’s largest business support group.

Furness Enterprise has announced it will dissolve at the end of August because of a lack of funding.

The folding of the 20-year-old organisation comes as a blow to scores of Cumbrian firms which have been developed with the help of grants, training and advice.

Directors estimate they have helped create or safeguard more than 14,000 jobs and helped 1,300 unemployed individuals back into work.

The support organisation will close because regeneration funds have dropped below a third of what has been received in previous years. Decisions on the allocation of regeneration cash are made by the Government and Furness Enterprise has been hit by the shutting down of both the NW Regional Development Agency, the Urban Regeneration Company and Barrow Regeneration. Efforts to obtain alternative funding through the Regional Growth Fund and the Big Lottery have not been successful.

Chief executive Harry Knowles said: “It is ironic that in the midst of the most difficult economic conditions we have experienced for decades, with large numbers of people looking for work, very limited vacancies and with other regeneration and business support organisations shutting down, we are having to close. With our closure there will be little or no free of charge support to help people set up sustainable new businesses.”

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock said: “This is bad news for the many local businesses Furness Enterprise supports, and is a terrible sign of the way the out-of-touch Conservative-led government is turning its back on areas like this.”

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce chief Rob Johnston said it was a ‘casualty’ of a change in central Government strategy. He said: “It’s always sad when people lose their jobs and I’d like to take this opportunity to recognise publicly the work that Furness Enterprise staff have done for businesses in Furness over a number of years.

“The Chamber is continuing to bid for and win significant business support contracts successfully, both locally and further afield.”