‘Skills shortages’ hitting business, Telford conference told
Skills shortages and infrastructure remain the biggest issues for Shropshire businesses, a conference attended by hundreds of businesspeople has heard.
The Business Event – organised by the Marches LEP along with the Marches Growth Hub, Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses – saw more than 300 people come together at Telford's International Centre to discuss the state of the local economy.
It also saw the launch of the annual Marches LEP report, in which the body outlined its aims for the coming year and its current plans and investments.
Introducing the event, LEP chairman Graham Wynn told delegates: "Key issues you have raised include skills shortages – businesses are struggling to recruit enough skilled young people.
"You also need roads to keep up with increased traffic flows, to get products and services to the market. And you need business sites and premises in which you can grow and expand."
The LEP has been a focal point for a lot of government money since its launch in 2011.
The report shows that the projected funding available to the LEP int he 2016/17 financial year stood at £41.2 million, while its expenditure tallied £36.7 million, with £4.5 million carried over to the current year.
Of the money spent in 2016-17, 84 per cent was allocated to growth deal projects such as the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package – which is seeing a number of traffic "pinch points" including Meole Brace Island overhauled – and Telford's Eastern Gateway Project at Junction 4 of the M54.
The Marches Growth Hub, a network of three business support centres in Shrewsbury, Telford and Hereford, accounted for 0.5 per cent of spending and "core team costs" 1.2 per cent.
In his introduction to the report Mr Wynn said: "We are working hard to remove the barriers to growth – improving skills, speediing up your connections to superfast broadband, opening up development land for investment and promoting growth in housing.
"We are delivering on our promise of growth and investment, deciding on what the priorities are for funding based on what you are telling us, and rolling out a schedule of work which in the coming years will see the creation of 70,000 homes and 40,000 jobs.
"But we needed to put the building blocks in first. If we want to attract more investment, jobs, home for the people who live and work here then we need to make sure our transport system can cope with the increase in traffic and our land is shovel-ready for developers."
