Tens of thousands of people will read about the highlights of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s first five years, in a special feature being run this week in Johnston Press newspapers published in north Notts and north Derbyshire.
D2N2 – the private sector-led partnership of business, local authorities, skills and training providers, and community organisations which promotes economic growth and jobs creation across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – was officially formed in late 2010, meaning it is currently marking its fifth anniversary.
Details of projects it has invested in to date, and its future ambitions, appeared in a 24 page supplement in the Nottingham Post and Derby Telegraph last week (November 11), which can be read online HERE.
A further D2N2 double page feature is appearing in this week’s editions of newspapers the Mansfield, Ashfield and Alfreton CHAD; Belper News, Derbyshire Times, Ripley and Heanor News, and Worksop Guardian.
D2N2 receives central Government and European funding, which it uses to lever in further private sector investment and matched funding for projects aimed at growing the economy, and so has a responsibility to publicise where money is spent.
Major projects it has delivered on, or is due to, include:
- More than 1,000 companies assisted by the D2N2 Growth Hub since its December 2014 launch. It provides free guidance and help in accessing finance, to new and developing businesses.
- Hundreds of jobs already created through D2N2 bridging loans and grants, for companies and developments in need of a kick-start. For example, the Unlocking Investment for Growth grants D2N2 gave Thornbridge Brewery of Bakewell (a £78,000 grant) and Standard Motor Products Europe of Annesley (£81,000), to enable them to expand production and their workforce.
- Millions of pounds invested in strategic transport, key sectors, facilities and digital broadband schemes. For example, the £2.5m D2N2 is investing (through its Local Growth Fund) in a £7.5m link road, to connect the Markham Vale Employment Zone to junction 29a of the M1 motorway, to make it more attractive for companies looking for a location.
- Efforts to improve skills and training delivery locally, including programmes to bring employers and providers closer together in creating skills needed for local workforces. For example, the £3.4m D2N2 has awarded towards a higher level skills centre to open in Chesterfield and the £2.6m towards another centre at West Notts College. Both are due to open in September 2016.
- Housing and regeneration promotion; including the upcoming investment in areas around Chesterfield and Worksop major road junctions, which will make further land more accessible for housing and business development.
Both the Post and Telegraph supplement, and the latest Johnston Press newspapers’ double page feature, also give an update on the progress towards a Devolution deal for the D2N2 area of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Notinghamshire; which the LEP, business figures and local authority partners have been negotiating on for months. An agreed deal, which will see the area given greater control over powers to determine its economic future, is expected to be announced shortly.
Peter Richardson, Chairman of the D2N2 LEP, said: “In marking D2N2’s five years through these special newspaper features, people will read about the many ways we have lived up to our early pledges, and the successes we have gained so far for business and wider communities.
“My guess is that, having read them, most people will be surprised to learn just how much of the area’s business life the LEP has had, or plans to have, a hand in.”
A digital version of the Post and Telegraph D2N2 supplement – entitled Powering up business: Five years of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership – is now available online on this D2N2 LEP website by clicking HERE.
A copy of the double page feature appearing in the Johnston Press newspapers this week is now online. You can view it by clicking below:
D2N2 Double Page Spread – as featured in this week’s Johnston Press Newspapers
Media wanting more information about the work of the D2N2 LEP can contact Sean Kirby, D2N2 Communications Manager, on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
