Worcestershire LEP is led by private sector businesses in partnership with the public sector - comprising Worcestershire County Council and the six district councils of Worcester City, Bromsgrove, Redditch, Malvern Hills, Wyre Forest and Wychavon.
Its task is to shape the best business environment for the county, stimulate growth of the local economy, encourage inward investment, boost enterprise and job creation, and actively promote Worcestershire as a great place to live, invest in and work.
HEREFORD BECOMES FIRST COMMUNITY IN THE COUNTY TO BE TARGETED FOR
SUPER-FAST BROADBAND
Hereford City is included in a major expansion of BT's £2.5 billion super-fast fibre broadband programme; Herefordshire Business Board welcomes investment as Hereford is to become the first place in the county to get super-fast fibre-based broadband.
More than 26,000 homes and businesses in the city are poised to benefit from super-fast broadband as part of a major expansion of BT's roll-out plans.
Hereford is among the latest communities to be included in the company's £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre broadband. It will take the number of Hereford and Worcester homes and businesses being passed by the new super-fast network to more than 191,000.
The latest upgrades are due to be completed during 2012.
BT's local network business Openreach is driving forward plans to make super-fast fibre broadband available to two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014*. The innovative network features a mix of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) technologies. Speeds are vastly superior to those previously available to many UK homes and businesses.
FTTC, delivered to street cabinets, currently offers download speeds of up to 40Mbps with 10Mbps upstream. Openreach has said it will roughly double these speeds next year. FTTP, where the fibre goes directly to homes and businesses, offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, rising to 300Mbps in the spring. This compares with 6.8Mbps, the average actual speed of all UK broadband according to Ofcom's latest research published in July 2011.
John Dovey, BT's regional director for the West Midlands, said: "This latest major investment is a tremendous boost for Hereford. Super-fast broadband will be welcomed by families throughout the area because it will help improve their quality of life and leisure and open new doors through online learning and fast access to information and services. And it's also going to provide a huge fillip for businesses and the Hereford and Worcester economy. At a stroke, small and medium sized firms will have access to big business speeds at much lower costs allowing them to find new markets, boost their competitiveness and create new jobs.
"Faster upstream speeds are a boon for flexible and remote working, slashing office overheads and improving employees' work-life balance. Large graphic and video files can be sent immediately online instead of being physically delivered to customers on hard disk. And high quality voice and video calls will enable businesses to save time travelling to clients without losing direct customer contact.
"We are making rapid progress with super-fast broadband across the UK. More than six million homes and businesses can now access the high-speed technology and last month we announced that two-thirds of UK premises will have access by the end of 2014, a year earlier than planned.
"And we're not forgetting the final third – largely rural areas which we have always said will require a partnership approach with the public sector to provide access to the new technology. BT has the strength and experience to deliver challenging projects – as we are doing with major faster broadband initiatives in Northern Ireland and Cornwall – and we are determined to be at the forefront of taking the technology to the final third. We're also testing new technologies to improve speeds where fibre broadband won't be available because it's important that as many homes and businesses as possible have access to fast broadband and its benefits."
Neil Kerr, chair of the Herefordshire Business Board, said: "In these challenging economic times this is great news from BT and its importance to the economy of Hereford cannot be underestimated.
"The significance of access to fast broadband has long been recognised by the County; it is absolutely vital for local firms and households. It gives businesses a competitive edge in today's crowded marketplace and provides access to new markets and will support Hereford's ambitions to grow as a local sustainable economy through the creation of new jobs.
"I welcome BT's announcement as it represents real progress and I look forward to a time when this vital part of our communications infrastructure is available everywhere in Herefordshire.
Internet users with a fibre broadband connection can do much more online, all at the same time. A family can download a movie, watch a TV replay service, surf the net and play games online simultaneously. The latest chart hit can be downloaded in around two seconds, a CD in 30 seconds and a feature length HD film in 10 minutes.
Upload speeds are the fastest in the UK, with large video and data files being sent almost instantly and posting hi-resolution photos on Facebook, takes seconds.
Unlike other companies, Openreach offers network access to service providers on an open, wholesale basis, supporting a competitive market. For further information on Openreach's super-fast broadband programme visit www.superfast-openreach.co.uk
HEREFORD OLD MARKET DEVELOPMENT 2012/2013
FOLLOW-UP TO THE ‘MEET THE CONTRACTOR' EVENT ON 1 DECEMBER 2011
IF YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT TO THE MEET THE CONTRACTOR EVENT ON 1ST DECEMBER BUT WOULD LIKE TO FILE YOUR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST IN TENDER OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS A RANGE OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS ACROSS HEREFORDSHIRE DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE.
The ‘Meet the Contractor' event held by Stanhope and Sir Robert McAlpine teams at the Old Market Tavern on Newmarket Street on 1st December 2011 attracted about 250 business people.
In general the feedback has been most positive. The 2pm session exceeded all attendance expectations and led to an early second briefing at 3pm for those that waited. Numbers during the early afternoon meant that personal one-on-ones with the Stanhope and the Sir Robert McAlpine teams regrettably was just not possible for everyone. This was better achieved later mid-afternoon and around the 6pm session, which was also well attended.
This event was only the beginning for presenting, meeting and registration opportunities that this £90m development project can offer you, your colleagues, and your business. Other than for the early preliminaries and some services required in January/February 2012 there remains time for further enquiries, registration and opportunities to meet members of the respective teams for the package of work in the attached indicative list.
Enquiries should be directed to Hereford Futures, or through: hereford@sir-robert-mcalpine.com
There will be much opportunity for individuals with appropriate skills, especially trade, to become involved as well. Similarly there will be opportunities to register apprentices. Enquiries and registration is via the above email address. The most likely route for engagement will be by an invitation to join one of the sub-contacting businesses.
For those successful with gaining an Invitation to Tender and requiring assistance with its completion surgeries will be held to assist with its completion if required. Please contact Hereford Futures when you require that support.
HEREFORD OLD MARKET DEVELOPMENT 2012/2013
‘MEET THE CONTRACTOR' EVENT ON 1 DECEMBER 2011
Outline Works Packages
The following are the sorts of works packages that are on offer. The full scope will be much broader once the details of the scheme are finalised. This list MUST NOT be taken as definitive; there are opportunities to influence what is actually constructed by what you may bring to the table.
Preliminaries
‘Old Market Inn' refurbishment.
Temporary works water and power
Hoarding
Supporting Services
Waste management and disposal
Office services
Catering services
Security services
Main Works
Highways Section 278 (possibly 2 packages)
Piling groundworks preliminaries
Piling
Groundworks/landscaping
Concrete structural
Steel structural
Timber structural
Timber specials (i.e. screenwork)
Brick and blockwork
Partition and dry lining
Render, cladding, metal roofwork
Asphalt
Mechanical and Electrical services, including:
Building Management Systems,
Fire, and
Communication systems
Lifts and Escalators
Finishing, including:
Ironmongery
Decorating
Hereford enterprise zone granted
The West Midlands has been granted its third enterprise zone location. A bid backed by The Marches LEP for the Rotherwas Business Park in Hereford was announced as being successful this morning. Bids from the Coventry and Warwickshire, Stoke and Staffordshire and Worcestershire organisations were not successful.
The Hereford site was among 11 new zone locations to be revealed this morning.
Chancellor George Osborne announced plans to revive the 1980's enterprise zones in his Budget speech in March. At the time, he announced the first wave of 11 zone locations, including sites in the Black Country and Birmingham.
Enterprise zones will benefit from cheaper business rates, superfast broadband and lower levels of planning control.
Prime Minister David Cameron described the zones as "trailblazers for growth, jobs and prosperity
throughout the country".
The 40-acre Rotherwas Business Park proposal will bring in about 6,500 jobs, The Marches LEP has previously stated.
Dr Geoffrey Davies, chairman of The Marches LEP, said: "Hereford is home to a world-recognised brand in the defence industry, the SAS, which has led to a growing cluster of defence-related businesses.
"We have also taken into account the key growing environmental technologies and advanced engineering sectors, as well as the benefits of the new direct road link to the A49 from Rotherwas and access to high-speed wireless broadband when making this decision."
The majority of the Rotherwas site is owned by Herefordshire County Council, with some of the land available immediately for development and all of the site available by early 2013.
A bid for a Stoke-on-Trent & North Staffordshire Enterprise Zone was submitted based at Etruria Valley and Keele University Science Park. Worcestershire's LEP had backed a bid for a zone in South Kidderminster.
Coventry's submission centred around a bid involving the city's airport.
Denys Short, chairman of Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, said this morning that his organisation had missed out on one of the coveted zones, tweeting: "Cov & Warks miss out on new enterprise zone announcements."
Eleven new locations were announced this morning, creating a total of 22 zones. The Chancellor previously said that only 21 locations would be chosen in the UK.
Business secretary Vince Cable said: "Enterprise zones are creating an environment for businesses to grow in places with the most potential. Those the government has announced today, on top of those already approved, show the range of ambitious plans in place across the country.
"Local Enterprise Partnerships have worked closely with businesses in their communities to put forward a range of high-quality proposals. The successful bids they will now take forward are going to help inject new growth into their economies."
Across England, these zones will generate new jobs, investment in areas that can benefit, and develop high-tech products that will secure long-term sustainable prosperity.