First published in the Worcester News on 3 July 2015
We continue to work with all partner organisations to raise the profile of Worcestershire as a World Class place to work, invest and do business. I am glad to say that we were able to announce that during 2014/5 over 1,000 jobs were created in the County due to investment from overseas. A delegation was welcomed on Tuesday of this week (30 June) from Hezhou, China and activity will continue over the coming months to build on this momentum for investment from across the UK and from abroad. Businesses can help by promoting their own achievements and we will continue to advise on other ways you can help raise the profile of Worcestershire at the same time as that of your company.
In my last column I mentioned the progress being made to improve traffic flow on Pershore Lane for the Worcester Six site, which has been described as one of the best undeveloped sites between Birmingham and Bristol and once completed will provide over 5,000 jobs. At the same time, Worcestershire LEP is contributing £1.8m for work at Redditch Eastern Gateway which is ideally located close to the M40 and M42 and will create up to 1,500 jobs. These are two key employment sites, also known as gamechangers, which will significantly boost the local economy and so it is good news that both are progressing well.
Feedback from businesses is so important to ensure that organisations across Worcestershire set priorities depending on business need – this was absolutely vital when creating the Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) and I want to make sure this continues to be the case. So please remember to have your say on services and business support in the Worcestershire Business Viewpoint Survey by Sunday 5 July 2015 – further details are available at www.wlep.co.uk. Also, please contact the Worcestershire LEP directly by emailing enquiries@wlep.co.uk, with any ideas on how we can drive the Worcestershire economy to even more success.
Finally, in my first few months in the role it has been a pleasure to meet with many local businesses. I do hope to welcome more of you at WLEP Annual Conference on 13 November 2015 and look out for more details which will be available soon.
Mark Stansfeld
Chair of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership