Lancashire Business Park Supporting information January 2015

Strategic Investment Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal The Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal is a signed agreement between the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, National and Local Government to drive forward local growth by empowering the area to make the most of its economic assets and opportunities. Lancashire Business Park is at the geographic heart of the City Deal area and improvement to the road infrastructure, doubling the vehicle capacity between Preston City Centre and the motorway network at the point at which the M65, M6 and M61 connect, will benefit access to the Business Park. Improvements to the highway network in the vicinity of Lancashire Business Park will also enable the development of over 2,500 homes in the immediate area. See attached link for further information;

Local Labour Labour supply There is a working age population of 710,000 within a 30 minute drive time of Lancashire Business Park, and an economically activity rate higher than regional and national averages. The Central Lancashire (South Ribble, Chorley & Preston) working population is 233,200. Labour costs are competitive with local average weekly earnings and lower than the North West and national figures. The Lancashire economy benefits from a higher proportion than the North West of its working age population qualified to NVQ Level 4 (30.8% in Lancashire, 30.3% in North West) and NVQ Level 2 (70.1% in Lancashire, 69.9% in North West). Logistics and manufacturing employment in the catchment area is very strong with high proportions of mid/lower skilled occupations such as skilled trade employees and process, plant and machine Operatives (241,800) – greater than North West and national averages. There are 78,300 people employed in these occupation in South Ribble, Chorley & Preston. Significant employers in the area include the following distribution centres; Waitrose, ParcelForce, James Hall (Spar), Booths Supermarkets, DHL regional consolidation centre. Other significant local companies include PACCAR (Leyland Trucks), Dr Oetker, Kimberly-Clark and Wolseley UK.

Recruitment Support Employment Taskforce Recruitment support is available through the Employment Taskforce which supports businesses in the South Ribble and Leyland area. Support includes help with recruiting skilled staff through the jobs match service, promotion of jobs through the Universal Job search recruitment service, help with work trials, apprenticeships and pre-employment training. Work Based training for employed individuals and sector- based training is also available. Workforce Planning Solution Lancashire County Council offers a bespoke and free workforce planning solution, including HR advice on recruiting and training your workforce which could also reduce any reliance on agency costs. Apprentice/Work Experience programmes There are a suite of apprenticeship and work experience programmes delivered by Lancashire County Council, with incentives of £1,500 per apprentice for SME companies. LCC is also able to source apprentices, and gives an organisation the opportunity to "try before you buy" through structured and monitored work experience over a specified number of weeks through pre-apprenticeship trials. LCC can introduce a business to the National Apprenticeship Service, who will assign a dedicated Employer Account Manager to help fill vacancies with qualified staff, provide access to recruitment e-shots and other social media platforms, broker a relationship with a provider if one doesn’t already exist.

Recruitment Case Studies Employment Taskforce example support Businesses including Waitrose & Dr Oetker have already benefited from support from the Employment Taskforce, working with Jobcentre Plus and local colleges, for their new developments in the borough. Waitrose was helped with a recruitment drive earlier in 2013 and the Taskfoce hosted a recruitment event for the supermarket giant. Waitrose’s newest regional distribution centre opens in summer 2013 in Matrix Park, Buckshaw Village and the council and partners (Jobcentre Plus and Preston College) have been working with the retailer to find local people to work at the site. More than 600 jobs will be created and the council was keen to ensure the skills needs of Waitrose were met and the development benefited the local community in and around the local area. Dr Oetker is re-developing its Leyland manufacturing site during Investment for the new production facility is part of a three year programme that will secure the future of the site as a centre of excellence for the Dr Oetker Group and cement its long-term viability. South Ribble Borough Council, working together with Jobcentre Plus and Preston College, is supporting the new development and the recruitment and training of staff.

Travel and Transport Road access The site has a central Lancashire location in Leyland, near Preston, with easy access to the M6, M65 and M61 motorways with journey times to Preston c.10 minutes and to Manchester or Warrington c.30 minutes. Bus services Two bus routes serve Lancashire Business from the catchment areas of Preston and Leyland. Bus Service 113: Preston - Leyland - Wigan. This service travels through Lancashire Business Park and runs every hour from 6.30am. Bus service 111: Preston – Penwortham - Leyland. This service stops on Stanifield Lane (near its junction with Centurion Way). Buses run every 20 minutes from 6.30 am (approximately). Rail services Rail Service – Northern Rail. Blackpool to Manchester Victoria and Preston to Hazel Grove. Liverpool Lime Street to Preston. Trains every half hour (approximately). Sustainable travel This is encouraged through a network of safe cycle and walking routes that connect the transport corridor between Lancashire Business Park/Leyland and Preston.

Business Support & Finance Boost Business Lancashire Boost is the new £7.2million Lancashire Business Growth Hub, led by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership with £3.6m of funding provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Available to companies across the county, Boost can help growth-hungry businesses across a range of areas including leadership development, developing a growth strategy and raising finance. Rosebud Loans Rosebud Business Solutions is a unique offer to Lancashire business combining flexible finance with customised support and advice. It provides an innovative two fold solution designed to help business grow with finance available from £2,000 to over £1 million and a comprehensive package of business development services. Finance is available to those located, or thinking of relocating to, Lancashire County Council administrative areas as part of efforts to generate jobs for the future economy.