Issue 51 | Page 13

NEWS
Nev Jones , co-owner of family-run Aycliffe firm J & C Coaches , was elected to represent Aycliffe East – an area which includes Aycliffe Business Park – in the 2021 local elections .

LITTER CAMPAIGN

Businessman ’ s pledge to clean up Aycliffe Business Park

BUSINESS BRIEFS

FUND BACKING Printable pressure sensor technology developed on Aycliffe Business Park is set to be rolled out into a range of new markets with the help of a five-figure investment .
HP1 Technologies – based at the CPI building on Durham Way South – develops sensor systems that measure and collect high quality impact and pressure data in a variety of situations , and can be made in a range of bespoke shapes and sizes .
The HP1 management team has now worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to secure a £ 35,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund , supported by The European Regional Development Fund , which is being used to enhance the firm ’ s production capacity and enable it to go after more and bigger contracts .

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Newton Aycliffe businessman newly elected to Durham County Council has pledged to clean up Aycliffe Business Park .
Nev Jones , co-owner of family-run Aycliffe firm J & C Coaches , was elected to represent Aycliffe East in the 2021 local elections .
The Lib Dem candidate stormed to victory in the ward which includes Aycliffe Business Park , along with Labour ’ s Jim Atkinson .
“ Litter has always been a bugbear of mine ,” said Nev , whose J & C Coaches has been based on the business park for more than 30 years .
“ I was always brought up to put your litter in the bin . It really isn ’ t difficult !
“ We ’ ve been out and about litter picking in the town recently , but I ’ m proposing to take this to the next level with a new town-wide campaign .
“ I ’ m planning to launch the Keep Aycliffe Tidy campaign . We ’ ll promote it around the town with posters , flyers and social media posts .
“ We ’ ll also organise more regular community litter picking days .”
Nev says he ’ s particularly concerned about litter that is dropped along St Cuthbert Way , near Ramsey ’ s garage and the old Newton Press buildings .
“ There ’ s no excuse to drop litter and make a mess . It brings down the appearance of our business park ,” he added .
“ We all must take pride in our town and business park and make an effort to keep up our appearance .”
Nev and his Lib Dem colleague Michael Stead rocked local Labour with shock wins in the local elections , held in May .
The pair stormed to comfortable victories in their Aycliffe wards , with both taking seats from Labour , who had hoped Wendy Hilary would have retained Labour ’ s other Aycliffe East seat previously held by Sarah Iveson .
“ I ’ m absolutely made up , elated !” Nev told Aycliffe Business .
“ This is just the start . I have plans and I want to make a real change . I ’ m passionate about Aycliffe , I ’ ve lived there all my life , and I just wanted the opportunity to make a difference , so I ’ m absolutely thrilled .”
In the Aycliffe North and Middridge ward , Mr Stead – with 1,130 votes – finished second to Tory candidate David Sutton-Lloyd , who polled 1,269 votes .
With Tony Stubbs from the Tories getting 905 votes – and his party retaining their two seats in the ward – Mr Stead effectively took John Clare ’ s seat from Labour .
“ I ’ m absolutely over the moon ,” said Mr Stead , who was elected to Aycliffe Town Council in a 2020 by-election .
“ We ’ ve put a lot of hard work in that seems to have paid off . The turn-out was a lot higher , so I ’ m over the moon the people of Aycliffe North , Woodham and Middridge understand what we ’ re trying to do .”
Independent candidate Ken Robson took another seat off Labour in the Aycliffe West ward election , with Kate Hopper falling victim there , while Labour ’ s Eddy Adam retained his seat .
So the seven councillors representing Aycliffe at Durham Council now includes Nev Jones and Michael Stead ( Lib Dems ), Jim Atkinson and Eddy Adam ( Labour ), David Sutton- Lloyd and Tony Stubbs ( Conservatives ) and Independent Ken Robson .
JAPAN LINK-UP A partnership between the National Horizons Centre in Darlington and a Japanese health innovation park is helping to cement the reputation of the Tees Valley as a global hub for life sciences .
Representatives from the National Horizons and Shonan Health Innovation Park ( Shonan iPark ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which commits the two organisations to a relationship which will develop their shared goals of delivering innovation in bioscience .
The National Horizons Centre is a £ 22.3m national centre of excellence for the bioscience sector run by Teesside University at its Darlington Central Park campus and offers a state-of-the art facility for research , training and collaboration to grow the capacity of the UK ’ s life bioindustry .
MILLER TIME Miller Homes has announced plans to build over 700 new homes across the North- East this year – with almost 300 across developments in the Tees area and over 400 homes planned for the north of the region .
As well as launching new sites , a number of developments are expected to complete this year .
These include The Oaklands in Newton Aycliffe , Sandbrook Meadows in Seaburn , Broadoaks in Bedlington , Barley Meadows in Cramlington and Westburn Village in Hebburn .
Miller Homes ’ regional offices are in North Shields and Newton Aycliffe and there are 16 live developments across the North-East and Teesside .
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 13