The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 46: Dec/Jan 2019 | Page 15

SWLEP
@SWLEP
Visit the SWLEP online at:
www.swlep.co.uk
Paddy Bradley
reflects on 2019
2019 has been a year of change, growth and
consolidation for the SWLEP, building on the
foundations of our hard work last year.
The last 12 months have really shown the passion and
commitment the SWLEP and our partners have for Swindon
and Wiltshire.
Following the attack in Salisbury, we pulled together to
move the city out of crisis and heading towards a positive
future. A structured response helped this emergency
situation. It was well-led by Wiltshire Council and Salisbury
City Council, who worked together with Government
departments. Salisbury is now picking up as a result of the
co-ordinated effort. There are still challenges but there is
a really good local and national commitment to build on
Salisbury and improve it for the future.
I’m excited that the Growing Places Infrastructure Fund for
Swindon and Wiltshire is now making a difference. This £8.7
million ‘revolving’, local, low interest loan pot has benefitted
three firms so far, Chippenham’s Woods Group, Swindon’s
Recycling Technologies and Our Wilton Community Interest
Company. We are also in the process of allocating loans
to other businesses. The loan fund is now available as a
constant open call and so if you are interested, please get in
touch.
We have recently completed our rail infrastructure project.
This looks at priority areas for new services and potential
new stations. Prioritisation is based on the best economic
gain from any investment.
I was delighted that our £21 million Swindon Institute of
Technology (IOT) bid to Government was successful. The
focus of the IOT is level 4+ technical qualifications with
engineering included, along with aspects of digital technology
and life sciences. The capital investment will enable
businesses to have appropriately skilled and competitive
workforces to support growth, innovation and creativity when
it completes in 2021.
Our Growth Deal Programme is currently on track to have
full expenditure by 2021. Recently completed projects include
the Digital Mansion House in Corsham, an incubation space
for businesses working within the digital or innovation sector,
as well as the Swindon Sustainable Transport pedestrian and
cycle way and the extension of the duelling of the A350.
Investment in high speed connectivity is key to our
future and as part of the Growth Deal we’ve invested in
Ultrafast Broadband. We’ve invested £1 million into this and
the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has
invested £2 million. The programme is being run by Wilts
Online and has two projects, one in the North of Wiltshire
and one in the South. They have tendered out contracts and
are being run by Gigaclear (North Wilts) and BT Openreach
(South Wilts). They are on track to deliver by 2020 and this
will bring ultra- fast broadband supplies more than 100mb
per second, in selected areas.
Our Swindon & Wiltshire Business Growth Summit at
Cineworld in Swindon this October was fantastic and a real
highlight for me. We have now booked the date for our 2020
Growth Summit which will be held at Salisbury Cathedral.
Keep an eye on our website and social media feeds for more
details as they are announced.
I’m proud that the reputation of the SWLEP has grown in
the last year. Changing to a not-for-profit company, limited by
guarantee, has been a good move. We’re demonstrating that
we want to use that status to get involved in different ventures
and be more commercial in what we do.
It was great to move into our new home in October. We’re
now based in the Digital Mansion House in Corsham, which
makes it very easy for us to move around the area to conduct
our work.
In 2019 we’ve reached out to more businesses, more
people, and it’s great to feel that we’re making a bigger
contribution to the economy. The ambition for the coming
year is to grow that even more, getting further people
involved, upskilling them for a challenging business
environment and ultimately helping more businesses be
resilient at this time.
Wishing you a happy Christmas and a prosperous 2020.
Paddy Bradley
Director of the Swindon & Wiltshire
Local Enterprise Partnership
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019
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