Member Article

TVU Director to be speaker at national event

Tees Valley Unlimited’s ambitious plans to diversify and grow the area’s business potential are being highlighted at two influential high-level national events.

Stephen Catchpole, Managing Director of TVU, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley, will be the keynote speaker at prestigious conferences in London and Swansea this month. (January)

He will take to the stage on Thursday (January 24) at Integrating Employment and Skills 2013 being held at QE11 Conference Centre, London.

His keynote speech will focus on Encouraging Growth in the Local Job Market and encompass:

Delivering jobs, economic growth and prosperity in the Tees Valley and expanding the model beyond the region Attracting new business and creating employment opportunities Providing the local community with the skills and means to contribute to future regional development Encouraging business through tax-reliefs

The conference, being organised by GovNet Communications’ Events Division, will evaluate and explore the Government’s drive to tackle unemployment, develop skills and support the growth agenda.

Mr Catchpole will also be one of the main speakers at an event concentrating on Unlocking Our Potential: Skills Employability, Enterprise and Growth in Swansea on January 30. The conference is being organised by the Regional Learning Partnership South West Wales.

He said: “It is encouraging that the Tees Valley has been asked to present its progress and future plans to prospective investors, regeneration chiefs and other potential stakeholders.

“We are keen to highlight the opportunities that are emerging as part of the economic renaissance of Tees Valley to as varied an audience as possible as well as demonstrate the advances we have achieved to date.”

Notable achievements for TVU and its partners have included:

Securing significant success across the first three rounds of Regional Growth Fund with a total of £16 million RGF finance already released into Tees Valley economy leveraging in an additional £153.9m capital expenditure and securing 2,411 jobs.

A successful bid for Enterprise Zone status involving an innovative strategy encompassing 12 individual sites across the five Tees Valley boroughs offering financial incentives to help attract real investment and growth and deliver significant job opportunities. The package has the capacity to stimulate the creation of 1,250 new business and tens of thousands of new jobs.

Five companies have located on to the Tees Valley Enterprise Zone - Omega Plastics, Propipe Limited, Air Products, Traceco and Durable Technologies. This represents a total investment of £200m creating 111 jobs.

Since 2007, the TVU Partnership has secured more than £23m of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), leveraging an additional £25m match funding, which will create 1,460 jobs, safeguard a further 915 jobs and create / attract 277 businesses to the area.

Mr Catchpole said: “To sustain growth nationally it is crucial that we share what works with decision-makers in both the public and private sectors and what we have achieved so far.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Recognition PR Business Team .