Council wants £3m for growth plan
Council and business leaders in Staffordshire are asking government for £3 million so they can draw up plans for six projects to decarbonise the economy and create 5,000 jobs.
The ‘Fifty500 Midlands Growth Corridor’ project has been launched by Staffordshire County Council following consultation with big employers such as JCB, bet365, Keele University and Michelin.
Their stated aim is to turn the A50/A500 corridor into ‘one of the primary locations for sustainable growth and investment in the UK’. The project builds on but is ‘not directly linked’ to a previous funding bid for a series of junction improvements along the route, submitted by Midlands Connect.
According to a six-page prospectus, the intiative is based around six different projects: Innovation Factory, Road to Rail Freight, Smart Factories, Hydrogen Innovation Zone, Midlands Industrial Energy Plan, and Regional Supplier Park. The prospectus contains little information on what any of this actually means, and is heavy on jargon and buzzwords.
For example, the Innovation Factory will build on the success of Keele’s Science and Innovation Park and ‘enable collaborative start-up initiatives and spin-off businesses to be facilitated’. The county council says that £3 million is needed from govermment to further development these proposals over the next three years, and claims that this investment could help unlock £1.6 billion in private investment.
County council deputy leader Philip White and Ann Pittard, director of engagement and partnership at Keele University, visited Downing Street this week to support the bid. They hope the funding will be included in the forthcoming Spring Budget.
Cllr White said: “Our visit to Downing Street is a major milestone in our work to develop the Fifty500 Midlands Growth Corridor. If this bid is successful, together with our partners, we can continue our work to develop business cases around the corridor for new investments that will support our innovative and high growth businesses to create thousands of skilled jobs and generate an additional £100 million for the local economy.
“With the support of major businesses, academic institutions and local authorities along this route, I firmly believe our proposal has every chance of success.”