So as we come toward the end of the 2013-17 council, I share will you some of the achievements of our economic development and planning team so that we can start to understand their role.
Overall unemployment in Wiltshire is 3.4% compared to the South West at 4.1% and Great Britain at 4.9%. The percentage of working age people on job seekers allowance is only 0.6% (GB is 1.2%) and has steadily fallen to this level from 4% in 2012.
Workforce jobs in Wiltshire have increased by 27,900 or 15%.
The Business Location Index 2015 shows our area (Swindon and Wiltshire) to be amongst the top 5 business locations in England.
We have directly worked with business to create over a third (10,000) of these jobs, safeguarded tens of thousands more and established a pipeline of 11,000 potential new jobs as a result of ongoing work with businesses and investors.
We provide support to over 2,500 businesses a year ranging from the very biggest employers through our Wiltshire 100 programme through to new start-ups and incubation through The Enterprise Network (TEN).
This has resulted in major investment by companies such as TJ Morris, Dyson, Hermann Miller, Apetito, Babcock, Hitachi Capital, Welton Bibby Baron and DTRVMS as well as representing the successful growth and expansion of great local companies like Anthony Best Dynamics, Bath ASU, Hill Brush Company, Good Energy and Haydens Bakery.
Last year we worked with business to bring in £173 million of foreign direct investment into the County with companies including Lockheed Martin, Ball Corporation, Wavin BV and Dynamic Air Engineering.
Recently we have worked with QuinetiQ to secure Boeing’s investment in the south of county which will create 1,500 new high value jobs.
Alongside direct business support we have secured funding to develop the infrastructure to enable and encourage economic growth including over £70 million of Local Growth Funding from Central Government and £40 million of European Programme Funding.
We are delivering major improvements to the A350 at Chippenham and at Junction 17 on the M4. We have improved the A429 enabling significant expansion at Dyson.
We supported the successful transformation of RAF Lyneham into the national Defence College of Technical Training.
We have worked with the Army to deliver the Army Basing Programme, delivering over £1billion of infrastructure to enable the return of troops from Germany to Wiltshire by 2020, with nearly of quarter of the British Army being based here by then.
We have secured £16 million funding for redevelopment of Chippenham Station and are working with Network Rail and GWR to deliver this scheme.
Also in Chippenham we have supported the redevelopment of Langley Park (including development of a new hotel for the town), major investment and growth by key employers – Wavin, Rotaval, Woods Group amongst others, successful regeneration of the former Hygrade meat factory site, creation of Chippenham Business Improvement District – generating £250,000 every year to support the promotion and vitality of the town centre.
Wiltshire Council’s direct intervention has helped retain a major employer (Good Energy) in the town - at no expense to the tax payer while they develop plans for the next stage of their growth.
We have supported the £21 million redevelopment of Chippenham College, including the development of a specialised 3D design and printing centre. In addition, Wiltshire College Lackham has been prioritised by the S&WLEP (a partnership between Wiltshire and Swindon Councils and the business community) for an £8.2 million grant from the Government’s Local Growth Deal and we should hear the outcome later this month.
Trowbridge has seen the large scale regeneration of the Castle Place and Cradle Bridge sites with new cinema, restaurants, hotel, shops and high quality public realm. We are working in partnership with the NHS on the redevelopment of the East Wing site.
We have secured £6 million towards improvements to the A350 at Yarnbrook,
In the Salisbury area we are building a £10 million high tech science park at Porton, working with Boeing to bring 1,500 aerospace jobs to Boscombe,
We helped establish the Salisbury Business Improvement District.
Salisbury College and the redevelopment of Maltings/Central Car Park have been prioritised by the S&WLEP for an £20 million grant from the Government’s Local Growth Deal of which we should hear the outcome later this month.
We have worked extensively with the military on developing routes to employment for army leavers through the MCI Partnership, a number of successful transition and job fairs, through our Higher Futures programme and through the Enterprise Network.
We have invested £16 million in digital inclusion and access to super-fast broadband to support homes and business throughout the county. We have secured £2 million from to working on a programme extending ultra-fast broadband (100 Mbps) to facilitate further business growth. We are developing the ‘Digital Mansion’ in Corsham to nuture and incubate IT start-up companies.
Just so you know…
Speak again soon. For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.
Carlton
