Boost for homes and infrastructure throughout region.
The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership’s £500 million Growth Deal is transforming the Black Country. Year Two has seen completion of new homes, improved infrastructure and development of key sector training facilities and expertise.
The Local Growth Fund has supported specialist training through development of facilities and physical infrastructure with new buildings coming out of the ground in Wolverhampton (Science, Technology and Prototyping Centre) and Dudley (Dudley Advance Centre).
Already supporting learning and skills development, from school leavers to the existing workforce, are completed Growth Funded projects in West Bromwich (Fab Lab at The Public) and Walsall (Improved Engineering Capacity, Walsall College).
Growth Fund investment has seen the engagement of key employers to support skills training in key sectors including High Value Manufacturing and the Music Industry through approved feasibility and building design for two diverse centres’ in Dudley (Elite Centre for Manufacturing and Music Institute). Both will provide specialist training designed to improve productivity and growth across both sectors in the Black Country.
187 houses are complete in Walsall (Goscote Lane Corridor, in partnership with whg), with a further 569 energy-efficient homes to be built by 2021 enabling families to move into the area. In Wolverhampton (Bilston Urban Village) work is also progressing onsite with 440 homes planned alongside associated improvements to public open spaces as well as links to the town centre.
Supporting these developments, through the Local Growth Fund, the Black Country LEP have invested in improving infrastructure including new towpaths and cycle paths connecting residential, employment and education hubs like i54 (Managing Short Trips) as well as encouraging healthier, and greener, approaches to travel.
Stewart Towe, Black Country LEP Chair said: “The Growth Fund is helping the Black Country LEP to invest in, and change the landscape of, the whole Black Country. From new build specialist training facilities to support hands on skills development to new homes for our residents coupled with investment in infrastructure connecting all these fantastic people and places, we are really beginning to see a strong economic future for the Black Country.”
Individual Local Growth Fund Case Studies are available for download at www.blackcountrylep.co.uk/about-us/plans-for-growth/local-growth-fund
