Crawley Growth Deal
Construction work has started on the Queensway public realm project in Crawley town centre. The £8.3 million Eastern gateway public realm and highway scheme has been let to tender for design and build contract. The Manor Royal Gateway 1 project was completed in February.
Next steps:
We will be moving to delivery of Eastern gateway, detailed design phase for Station Gateway, Traffic modelling will be concluded for the Three Bridges station public realm schemes and outdoor media units will be installed at Manor Royal Business Park
December 2019 performance
The Queensway public realm scheme has been completed.
An additional £820k investment has been secured to extend a bus lane and
support transport infrastructure and economy in Manor Royal.
Gatwick Meet The Buyer Event
WSCC’s Economic Growth Team supported Gatwick Airport’s inaugural ‘Meet the Local Food Producer’ event in Oct 2019. The event gave opportunity for 40 producers from across the 4 counties surrounding Gatwick, to showcase their wares to potential commercial buyers from around the region – council officers drew upon sector contacts to engage with potential buyers and 16 West Sussex producers who attended on the day; the highest attendance of the 4 counties represented. A Taste/Experience West Sussex stand generated new interest in West Sussex as a ‘foodie’ destination and in sourcing West Sussex fare.
Full STEaM Ahead
WSCC have begun work on a partnership project which aims to
raise aspiration around STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Creative
Digital and Maths) based employment for young people and those already in the
workforce.
The programme aims to better link school and college aged
students, as well as adults already in the workplace, with quality jobs within
the wide variety of STEaM businesses in the county. The programme begins in spring
2020 and will run for 2 years. It has been funded from Pooled Business Rates
and brings together partner from all the local authorities, Coastal West Sussex
Partnership, schools, colleges and businesses. Events in the initial stages of
the programme include ‘Bringing Gatwick Airport to Worthing College’, and Learn
Live, using live video relay to link students with a wide range of local
businesses.
Mature Workforce Strategy
The West Sussex County Council Mature Workforce programme was
launched at the Manor Royal People Conference in autumn 2019. The scheme of
work will develop through 2020 with a focus on educating and encouraging West
Sussex employers to consider age diversity and the ways in which they Recruit,
Retain and Retrain the mature workforce.