26 • SPOTLIGHT • AUTUMN/WINTER 2016 Te business of LEIS URE Research has shown Ecotricity’s Eco Park proposal will be
worth some £300 million a year to the Gloucestershire economy. Company founder Dale Vince talks to Spotlight about how the community would benefit from the development
Te proposed Eco Park development by green energy company Ecotricity at Junction 13 of the M5 will create a 100 acre sports and green technology centre.
Half of the development will comprise
state-of-the-art sporting facilities, including a new stadium for Forest Green Rovers football club, while the other half comprises a green technology business park capable of creating up to 4,000 jobs. A study by specialist economic development
consultancy, Regeneris, has found that the proposed Eco Park development would provide £288.6 million in Gross Value Added to the local economy at its full potential. Te research, using Office of National
Statistics data, took into account potential jobs at Eco Park’s Green Technology Hub (nearly 4,000 professional, scientific and technical jobs) and at its Sports Complex (300 jobs), which included the sports science unit and an Ecotricity expansion office, as well as the indirect supply chain and induced effects. Dale Vince, who founded Ecotricity in 1995 as the world’s first green energy company,
and is chairman of Forest Green Rovers, said: “I was surprised by this report – of course we felt that Eco Park was going to be a big boost to the local economy, but we had no idea it would be this big. “£300 million a year is a big number – for
context that’s a 2% growth in Gloucestershire’s economy from just this one project – and it will give the area a significant stake in Britain’s fast-growing green economy.” Te research by Regeneris follows a previous
study which found Eco Park would generate around £2.7 million of business rates annually – an amount that would almost plug the entire £3 million funding gap forecast for 2020 by Stroud District Council, which would otherwise swallow up the council’s reserves in a single year. Dale Vince said: “Stroud District Council is facing a huge funding shortfall, which Eco Park could pretty much plug. Tat’s a serendipitous twist, and it gives the council a good hedge against austerity come 2020. He added: “Eco Park has got a lot going for
it already, and many people are excited about the potential combination of new business and sports facilities, as well as the potential transport, canal and ecological improvements”
Colliers International
PHOTO BY ECOTRICITY
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