Matt Bowmer: 151s, a strategy for skills and Silverstone – part 3

Matt Bowmer, Northamptonshire CC’s s151 officer, on skills and economic development

Northamptonshire is at the heart of the government’s long term growth aspirations for the country and growing the economy is very much embraced by Northamptonshire County Council in both the delivery of its direct services and also the way in which it operates with its partners and key stakeholders. Over the next twenty years there are very likely to be 80,000 more homes and 70,000 more jobs in the county.

There is a broad set of strategies in place to enable the council to deliver its commitments: maximise our location in promoting the logistics sector; recognise that the digital world requires more than just road infrastructure investment; support strong sectors such as high performance technology (HPT), especially in and around the motor industry.

There is a shortage of apprenticeships being taken up in some of our keys sectors. Digital skills are essential to growing the economy and we’re working with Tresham College, for example, to fill the gaps. There are financial incentives in place and we’re promoting a Digital Youth Academy to enabling time out of work to build web and social media experience.

The county is working well with its LEP, Northamptonshire Economic Partnership. Two schemes which have worked especially well, INVENT and LOCATE, supporting existing SMEs and bringing in others to Northamptonshire.

There are 30,000 SMEs in the county, so this has to be a focus. These incentive schemes look to support those with high growth potential.

We have established Enterprise Hubs in five of our libraries which have had a number of successes including supporting 100 new companies to start from scratch in the last 12-18 months. We have also set up a new “hatchery” for six start-ups in one of these libraries.

We have two landmark regeneration projects. The council underwrote the development of the new Castle Station to the tune of £5m, without which it wouldn’t have gone ahead. New civic headquarters are enabling the rationalisation of council offices saving £50m over the long term as well as work on Northampton Alive and the town’s Royal and Derngate Theatre.

This has also led to speculative commercial development starting in the area with a new hotel under construction. Again this wouldn’t have happened without the council taking the initiative on the Angel Street project.

There have been a number of boosts to the HPT sector. The council worked closely with Silverstone and granted a loan, now repaid, to support the development of its new wing toretain the Grand Prix and continue to be a focal point for motor racing. More recently there is now UTC at Silverstone which is majoring on this industry.

We also have three other initiatives underway. The first, Race to the Top, is aimed at improving educational attainment in the county and addressing skills issues. The second is the county council’s support for the university’s £300m redevelopment and relocation to the town centre by passing on preferential PWLB rates for its financing. Thirdly, the council is going beyond the original matched funding required for the mobilisation of super fast broadband and encouraging district councils to make a contribution to what is increasingly crucial to our lives.

Matt Bowmer is director of finance for LGSS and s151 officer for Northamptonshire County Council

Photo: (cropped) Silverstone Circuit, Flickr