New strategy aims to boost Shropshire’s economy and businesses
A new economic growth strategy for Shropshire which aims to ensure that Shropshire is seen as a great place to live, work, invest and visit, and that Shropshire people have access to better-paid and more secure employment, and possess the skills and knowledge they require for work, has been launched this week.
The strategy – which can be viewed online at http://shropshire.gov.uk/economicgrowthstrategy – has been produced by Shropshire Council, Shropshire Business Board and Shropshire Partnership, and runs to 2026.
The overall vision within the strategy is that Shropshire’s economy is sustainable and its businesses are competitive and resilient. The approach to delivering this vision is based on four key areas: accelerating business growth; infrastructure for growth; our opportunity sectors; and our skilled and loyal workforce.
Specific activities based around these four areas will be contained within a detailed business plan, which will span the next three years and become a rolling programme of actions over the life of the strategy.
Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, said:
“This strategy takes a new approach, in that it has been drafted from the perspective of the business community, and focuses on unlocking capacity and resources from what we already have.
“The strategy sees business growth, skills development and new infrastructure development and a focus on those sectors which play to Shropshire’s strengths as the key principles for driving economic growth. We have really tried to look at how we deliver them with fresh eyes, commercial focus and a new determination to make a difference.
“The strategy is based on a combination of what businesses have told us they think, what we have heard from you, and a long hard look at the facts relating to our economy and future trends.”
Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for economic growth and prosperity, said:
“This is a strategy for growth which plays to our strengths and is endorsed by business, for business. This new strategy doesn’t mean that other work to help the economy grow won’t happen. There is already a lot of good work going on in the county that will contribute to our vision and outcomes.
“We will build on the work being done across Shropshire, Herefordshire and Telford and Wrekin through the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, and the embryonic tri-county work with Staffordshire and Worcestershire.
“This strategy does not stand alone, so we will work with others, such as the Health and Well-being Board, to ensure that the economic, social and environmental aspects of all key initiatives are properly considered early in the process.”
Introducing the strategy, Mandy Thorn, Chair of the Shropshire Business Board, says:
“We would like to thank everyone who has worked with us to make this strategy one that Shropshire, most especially our businesses, can share in and believe. We want the business community to take the driving seat in creating a better future for everyone. We now need your help to deliver the vision.”
Shropshire businesses are being asked to help communicate this strategy widely in order that the Business Board might positively influence other important strategies relating to the future of Shropshire, such as the Employment and Skills Strategy and the Visitor Economy Strategy, by encouraging the adoption of a business focus and ethos of sustainable development.
The business plan will be regularly monitored by the Business Board and Shropshire Council’s Enterprise and Growth Scrutiny Committee, so that as the positive impacts of work against each priority begin to be felt, other issues can be focussed on in a rolling programme of economic growth.
