The director general of the Confederation of British Industries has become the latest high profile figure to lend his backing to a regional press campaign to help fledgling businesses.

Nearly 500 local titles have signed up for the Local Business Accelerators initiative, pledging around £15m of free advertising to growing firms.

CBO boss John Cridland said:  “Small and medium sized businesses across the country have the potential to grow and create many new jobs and by joining forces in this way local newspapers can help provide valuable practical support.”

The scheme, coordinated by the Newspaper Society, has already attracted 1,000 applications from local businesses after being launched a fortnight ago.