News in Brief
Warwickshire’s 700 new jobs at Aldi HQ
Prime Minister David Cameron visited Aldi’s UK headquarters in Atherstone this week for the announcement of 35,000 new jobs across the country.
The move, which will double the size of the retailer’s UK workforce, will also see 700 more office staff employed at the company’s base in North Warwickshire.
Aldi intends to invest a total of £600m in its expansion and the group has also pledged to create at least one apprenticeship per new store.
The discount retailer has been increasing its market share and posted a big rise in pre-tax profits as they rose 65.2% to £260.9m for the year to 31 December 2013.
Aldi’s market share grew from 3.1% to 4% in 2013, according to Kantar Worldpanel, and is now 4.8% after a continued strong performance in 2014.
Putting Warwickshire on the map at MIPIM
Council and business leaders have been promoting the area at the UK’s leading commercial property show.
MIPIM UK, held in London’s Olympia in October, attracted more than 4,000 investors, developers, agents and business service providers looking to close deals.
The council’s inward investment team joined leading business and property partners from Coventry City Council and Coventry and Warwickshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership at MIPIM to promote the region.
Warwickshire is a major player when it comes to inward investment and last year there were 23 foreign direct investments to the county which created nearly 900 jobs. Added to this, recent UK Trade and Investment figures show the Coventry and Warwickshire region was the most successful area outside London in attracting inward investment.
Sackie Somal, who heads up the Invest in Warwickshire team, said: “We work hard to ensure the conditions and infrastructure are right for a vibrant local economy and it’s important that people understand why this area is such a great place to do business.
She added: “The volume and breadth of interest at MIPIM was extremely encouraging and our priority is to convert this interest into job creation and growth.”
Les Ratcliffe, chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Place Board which helps promote the area, added: “People are aware that we have a very good offer and that we are achieving very tangible results. That is down to the work of the CWLEP and the local authorities – the private and public sectors working together – in presenting a positive and coherent message that this is a place where you can do business.
“A string of high level announcements, the success of several of our key companies and the accolades recently won by our two universities add up to a very clear picture of an area with massive potential.”
Universities, Science and Cities minister Greg Clark visited the stand to see the Coventry and Warwickshire offer just weeks after signing off a Government Growth Deal which could lead to around £100 million of investment.
Be a part of Small Business Saturday
Businesses and communities across Warwickshire are being encouraged to support and promote small businesses on Saturday 6th December and beyond.
Small Business Saturday is a national grass roots campaign aimed at encouraging people to shop locally and to support their local economy on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
While the day itself takes place on the first shopping Saturday in December, the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses throughout the year.
The vast majority of Warwickshire businesses are small or medium enterprises with 249 employees or fewer, and they account for over 90% of our local economy.
The county council is working with the Federation of Small Businesses and district and borough councils to raise the profile of our diverse range of small businesses.
We would like to see as many small businesses in Warwickshire involved by offering promotions, organising events or hosting competitions to encourage people to keep it local both on Saturday 6 December and throughout the rest of the year. Please visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/smallbusiness-saturday or www.facebook.com/keepitlocalwarwickshire or call the team on 01926 412 818 for more information.
Jonathan Browning on Jobs and Careers
Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Jobs and Careers Fair was a hive of activity. Here, the Chairman of the LEP, Jonathan Browning, speaks about the event's success.
The enthusiasm and interest shown by everyone who attended the Jobs and Careers Fair which the CWLEP organised earlier this month was extremely impressive.
This was the first event of its kind in the sub-region for a decade and the fact that over 2,000 students from across Coventry and Warwickshire turned up emphasised that this was very much needed.
Employers, colleges, universities, training providers and careers providers gave information and advice not only to years 10 to 13 but also unemployed adults and youngsters Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEETs).
After the initial couple of hours, when the hall at the Ricoh Arena was packed with students, it was great to see more arrive later with over 400 parents.
It was impressive to see the energy and drive the students showed to find out more, whether they already know their chosen career path or are undecided.
Businesses were pleased with the response they received and are busy making following up calls to sign-up their next group of apprentices.
All this is very much part of the CWLEP’s Skills Strategy as we aim to provide highly skilled jobs in a number of sectors to attract people to Coventry and Warwickshire – and keep them here so that we benefit from their knowledge in a number of ways.
Our strategy focuses on using skills to drive growth and create jobs, developing skills to tackle unemployment and ensuring a better fit between education and employment and the Jobs and Careers Fair was part of putting the plan into action.
Promoting tourism
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Quidem, the owners of Touch FM, Rugby FM and Oak FM, to deliver the Coventry and Warwickshire Tourism Awards, with the first ceremony taking place at the Ricoh Arena in March 2015.
Councillor Izzi Seccombe, Warwickshire County Council leader, said: "Our arts, culture, heritage and leisure destinations create a vibrant tourism economy that is the envy of many. More than 23.5 million day and night trips are taken in Coventry and Warwickshire annually and we should celebrate the popularity of our region.”
The county council is committed to promoting tourism and recently collaborated with The Warwickshire Rural Hub to host an innovative rural tourism conference. The event was a great success and over 60 hospitality businesses and attractions attended on the day from across the region.
Area is ahead of the game
Warwickshire is home to the third largest games development cluster in the UK. The area around Royal Leamington Spa is known as ‘Silicon Spa’ with over 30 studios directly employing some 1,200 people.
The month of October saw the launch of the new digital gaming hub and the award-wining Backspace Festival which widened its reach even further.
Backspace
Launched to huge acclaim, the Backspace festival showcased creativity and technological innovation across the region, this year expanding outside of its Leamington Spa roots, to include games companies and community events across the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire.
The event, which ran from Saturday 25 October to Sunday 2 November, was co-organised by Vital, Press Space PR, Leamington Looks Back, Warwick District Council and Warwickshire County Council.
A broad range of activities for all ages and interest levels lit up October half term week, and included a pop-up exhibition chronicling the history of games in the region, 'Spa-Cade' games trail, RaspberryPi programming workshops for teachers and students, careers evenings and Develop Magazine’s industry Quiz Night.
Visit http://backspaceuk.com
New digital gaming hub opens in Leamington
A new incubator facility for start-up gaming companies and micro enterprises has been opened in Leamington to encourage further inward investment.
The new centre is called 26 HT and is situated in Hamilton Terrace. It has been transformed from a disused property into a four-storey digital gaming hub after receiving funding from Warwick District Council and a £108,000 grant from the government’s Growing Places initiative following a successful bid from Warwick District Council and the Economic Growth Team at Warwickshire County Council.
The property, which officially opened on 20 October, includes seven flexible offices and two meeting rooms for companies to test their games during the development stage.
Rail improvements on track
A ‘spade in the ground’ event marked the start of work on a brand new rail station that forms part of a £13.6 million rail upgrade that will see two new stations built on the Coventry to Nuneaton rail line.
The event, which was held at Bermuda Industrial Estate in Nuneaton, celebrated the start of work on the Bermuda Park rail station and was attended by Claire Perry MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport.
The Department for Transport is funding up to £4.75 million of the scheme, with a financial contribution from the European Regional Development Fund, and the remainder being met by Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council and Centro.
The Minister was joined by representatives from Warwickshire County Council, Marcus Jones MP for Nuneaton, Arley & Hartshill, Coventry City Council, Network Rail, London Midland, Centro (The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive), SLC Rail and Buckingham Group.
The new station at Bermuda Park is much needed to enable people and businesses in and around the south of Nuneaton to gain quick and easy access to local, regional and national rail networks.
The station will also improve access to job opportunities in the Nuneaton – Coventry corridor, including serving Bermuda Park industrial estate.
With increasing numbers of companies and residents being drawn to the area, fulfilling that need becomes ever more urgent.
In addition to the two new stations that will be built at Bermuda Park and Coventry Arena, the platforms at Bedworth Station will be extended as part of the scheme, boosting local people’s access to this crucial transport route.
This upgrade will provide enhanced travel links to major new developments along the line including the Friargate business district, next to Coventry railway station.
The works are scheduled for completion in May 2015.
New unsecured business loans for construction industry
The ‘Unsecured Tradesman Loan’ was launched by CWRT in response to the recent KPMG report on the difficulty that the construction industry faces in raising finance from their bank.
Funded by the government and the European Regional Development Fund, the ‘Unsecured Tradesman Loan’ offer local businesses:
- loans from £10,000 to £15,000
- loans which can be used for most purposes including working capital, purchase of equipment, recruitment of staff, specialised training courses
- loan terms of one to three years
- no administration fees
- no early termination fees
- fixed interest rates of between 11.5% to 16.5% (reflecting level of risk)
- a rebate equivalent to a 1% reduction in the interest rate if payments are made on time
For more information, call CWRT’s team on 02476 551 777 or email enquiries@cwrt.uk.com.
Car share scheme gives Warwickshire employees a lift
A car share scheme that is already helping tens of thousands of people across the UK save money and be kinder to the planet has been signed up to by Warwickshire County Council and a number of the county’s other big employers.
Liftshare is the largest car share network in the UK and the County Council is now using the scheme to help its employees across the county link up with each other and with other people outside the Council who are making the same journeys.
Other local employers that have got on board with Liftshare include JLR in Gaydon, who launched the scheme to their employees recently and now have three dedicated car share car parks. The RSC, South Warwickshire Foundation Trust and Stratford District Council have also signed up to the scheme.
The scheme is free for individuals to use and you don’t have to own a car to join. It takes just a few minutes to join via the http://carsharewarwickshire.liftshare.com website and to add any journeys that you’d like to share – which could be your commute to and from work.
Members of Liftshare can then search for other people going their way and ask for a lift, offer a lift or arrange to take turns driving a regular journey.
Warwickshire County Council is using Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) money from the Department for Transport (DfT) to fund its involvement in the scheme, which forms part of its Stratford Parkway and Access to Stations projects. Businesses pay an annual licence fee to have their own private Liftshare scheme.
Employers across the UK who have joined the Liftshare scheme include the BBC, Tesco, Heathrow Airport and the Environment Agency. For more information visit www.liftshare.com
Branching out to Birch Coppice
UPS announce Birch Coppice expansion
Global delivery and logistics firm UPS have announced ambitious expansion plans at Birch Coppice, in North Warwickshire, at junction 10 of the M42. The 152,500 sq ft warehouse includes 7,500 sq ft offices and UPS already occupy a significant plot at the site.
The announcement comes just weeks after owner IM Properties broke ground on the site. In 2013 IM were the first developers outside London to announce spec build on units larger than 100,000sqft, and have now let all three of these units.
The expansion is testimony to the ongoing attractiveness of Warwickshire as a location for inward investment and business expansion.
Bus links provide boost to business at Birch Coppice, Dordon
Bus services from Nuneaton to Tamworth via Atherstone and Birch Coppice Business Park in Dordon are set to receive a major boost.
Stagecoach Midlands has been working closely with businesses in and around Birch Coppice to identify new routes and service times to better match their shift patterns.
A new Service 767 has been introduced since October, operating between Birch Coppice and Red Deeps via Atherstone and Nuneaton providing a very early morning and evening service Mondays to Saturdays. A Sunday service is also introduced in the early morning and evening, again providing links between Tamworth and Nuneaton via Birch Coppice. There are also some amendments in peak hours to the Mondays to Saturdays existing service 766, with journeys being extended to Nuneaton from Atherstone.
Together these improvements mean that residents of Nuneaton, Mancetter, Atherstone and Grendon without access to a car will be able to seek employment at Birch Coppice and at employers along the route, with the confidence that transport will be available seven days a week. Existing employees at Birch Coppice and local companies in Atherstone and elsewhere along the route will be able to choose to leave the car at home and take the bus.
Birch Coppice is a major employment site, with over 15 medium and large businesses, employing over 4,500 people, including online food retailer Ocado, the automotive parts company Eurocarparts and package delivery firm UPS. Further expansion is expected over the next few years creating even more job opportunities in an already flourishing North Warwickshire economy.
North Warwickshire Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council, together with Birch Coppice developers IM Properties, jointly hosted a Business Breakfast in July to discuss recruitment and access to the business park. Stagecoach Midlands were also invited to attend and met with employers to discuss transport solutions to the North Warwickshire site.
Contact Stagecoach on 01604 676060 or visit www.stagecoachbus.com for further details.
Council showcases apprenticeships
The council's Apprenticeship Hub stand was buzzing with a high volume of activity at the Coventry and Warwickshire Local 
Enterprise Partnership's Jobs and Careers Fair.
The team, which included apprentices from around the county, was busy providing a range of information and advice to students, parents, businesses and schools.
Since April last year the Warwickshire Apprenticeship Hub has supported the recruitment of over a hundred apprenticeships and engaged directly with over two hundred and fifty businesses. The county council is also putting its money where its mouth is, having taken on nearly sixty apprentices and continues to recruit to apprenticeship roles.
For more information visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/getanapprentice
Superfast broadband roll out boost for businesses and homes
Fast and reliable internet is becoming crucial to daily life. It means that small businesses can compete on an equal footing with larger firms - becoming more competitive and attracting new customers.
The Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull Superfast Broadband Programme is gaining momentum as phase three is started.
High speed fibre broadband will be available for the first time for over 8000 homes and businesses in Bidford-on-Avon, Brailes, Ettington, Harvington, Ilmington, Lapworth, Moreton Morrell and Wolston
Great progress has been made on phases one and two which have so far seen high speed broadband brought in reach of more than 15,000 homes and businesses in Warwickshire. Over 95 kilometres of fibre optic cable has been laid to date and phase three will see 77 more street-side cabinets installed bringing the total to 170. The cabinets are needed to connect people onto the new fibre optic network.
This programme is now two months ahead of schedule and the rollout continues to be accelerated. The latest plan can be found at www.cswbroadband.org.uk/where-when/rolling-12-month-plan
Businesses urged to get on board with new premises information scheme
Businesses in Warwickshire are being urged to sign up to a new scheme to help firefighters learn more about potential risks should an incident occur at their premises.
The aim of the service is to provide firefighters with accurate information about the business, so should an incident occur, the fire crews will know exactly what they are dealing with, which in turn will ensure the incident is dealt with more quickly. The scheme is designed for the owners of all non-domestic properties in Warwickshire, be it a small shop up to a hotel, or large factory.
All information provided will be kept securely and no details will be passed on to third parties. Larger businesses may receive a visit from the Fire Service to allow them to build a more detailed picture of the premises.
You can complete your Premises Information Form by logging onto: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/premisesinformationform. The form should only take five minutes to complete, but the difference it may make to the safety of your business could be huge.