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Light Source Synchrotron, Big Data and digital clusters, and a real quality of environment for leisure, culture and tourism – overall a great quality of life.”
Innovation-led business growth, particularly for small businesses, was at the heart of the LEP’s successful Oxford and Oxfordshire City Deal which will help establish four innovation hubs along Oxfordshire’s ‘knowledge spine’ – at Harwell and Culham in the south to the life science BioEscalator project at Churchill Hospital in Oxford and the advanced engineering hub at Begbroke in the north.
The LEP has also negotiated with government on how local Skills Funding Agency investment (£24m) can be better targeted to business needs – delivering tailored learning through colleges rather than simply delivering standard training modules.
Additionally, Tipple revealed that outside the City Deal, extra Enterprise Zone funding had also been gained for improvements to the A34 Milton and Chilton interchanges. “The message of the City Deal obviously set an economic context that the Government could respond to.”
“Our Bigger Picture narrative is about the whole of Oxfordshire being open for business, and brand ‘Oxford’ applying equally to a local community, university or city business, set within a dynamic culture of growth that allows talented individuals to get from the classroom to, for example, an F1 pit-lane.”
Investment focused on proven success
Nikki Godding
The City Deal is set to create nearly 19,000 high level jobs and 31,400 in construction. Plans include a raft of business support measures, a £1.5 million investment in skills training and over 500 new apprenticeships. The delivery of 7,500 new homes across the county, accelerated by public and private sector investment, is anticipated.
Business expansion will be supported by major improvements to transport links including the A34 pinch-points and A40 ‘Northern Gateway’ with a new A40 to A44 link road and improvements to the Cuttleslowe and Wolvercote roundabouts. Along with railway improvements, a new Oxford ‘Science Transit’ scheme will provide a high-frequency public transport link along the knowledge spine.
How the Government got to see the Big Picture
“The significant economic shift in our City Deal business case was in demonstrating how to bring those aspects together – the Big Picture: people, place, enterprise and connectivity,” explained Tipple.
The LEP’s City Deal submission was designed to gain support for skills and innovation within all types of Oxfordshire businesses, along with improved transport infrastructure, extra housing, and funding to support the four ‘incubator hubs’.
“Our Big Picture submission was compelling because our businesses, universities, and local authorities got behind it. Government ministers understood it and could retell our story and ultimately we secured £55.5m for the LEP to invest in the region.”
www.businessmag.co.uk
MEPC’s Philip Campbell commented: “I have worked in commercial property in Oxfordshire for 20 years now. When I first started, county mindset was always, ‘If it’s not broken why fix it? Our local economy is all right, we’ve got lots of eggs in different baskets, things will be fine . . .’ But times are changing and with the introduction of the LEP we have seen a real coming together of people and organisations and there is an appetite now to go from good to great. We should put that old mindset behind us and think instead of ways we can improve things that are good and make them really great.”
The Government had choices when it invested money: either in challenged areas that often deliver little return, or in strong areas that get great returns from relatively small investments. The City Deal support for Oxfordshire was obviously the latter, said Campbell.
Business adviser Steve Clarke added that Oxfordshire’s future was also about inward investment and re-investment.
The LEP had created Invest in Oxfordshire, to deliver a free, confidential and comprehensive inward investment service to potential new companies and an account management service to existing companies.
Organisations such as the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION), one of the UK's first business angel networks, were equally as important to job creation and future progress.
“There is money available for businesses that want to expand, Oxfordshire is in a great position to really kick-on, particularly with the upward change in the economy worldwide. If we don’t take the opportunity now, then we’ve only ourselves to blame.”
Campbell pointed out that when David Cameron (local MP for Witney) became prime minister there were concerns that government support for the Oxford region would reduce
Dr Malcolm Newdick
There were similar positive outlooks within publishing, automotive, IT, and engineering sectors. The key factor, he stated, was providing the right environment for businesses within such sectors to consolidate into mutually beneficial economic clusters, whether their markets involved were local or global.
“In terms of a cake, Oxfordshire has got all the ingredients, but in the past there has not been the appetite to increase the cake, but perhaps we are now seeing that.
“For internal growth we need to provide infrastructure, skills and housing, but as an area we need to promote ourselves to bigger ‘cakes’, be that regionally in the UK or internationally. That should be our aspiration.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2014
for fear of perceived favouritism, but in fact the obvious economic potential of the county had prevailed and the City Deal support was an indication of that accepted understanding.
Tipple agreed: “I believe that Oxfordshire’s strength was echoed by a greater degree of engagement from cabinet ministers in respect to our bid. They could see the potential to invest in success, and generate an exchequer return that could be re-invested in other parts of the UK, as the more compelling argument in an economic climate where we are looking to manage deficit.”
IT business MD Dr Malcolm Newdick mentioned the Government’s award in 2011of an Enterprise Zone to Oxford’s Science Vale at Milton Park and Harwell. “I imagine we got the EZ because that’s where the Government saw the growth coming in the next 10 years or so.”
Can we have our cake . . . and share it with the world?
Andrew Barlow of MEPC spoke about the diversity of Oxfordshire’s offering from automotive to life sciences, spinouts to world- brand companies. “The main cluster of biotech and life sciences seems to be expanding again, and research coming out of our world-leading universities has strong foundations upon which to grow. As an investor, MEPC has a big exposure to that sector, and two years ago we were nervous about the future, but not now following increased demand for laboratory space.”
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