Thousands of jobs to be created at new Wiltshire science park (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Thousands of jobs to be created at new Wiltshire science park
9:10am Friday 19th October 2012 in News
Thousands of jobs to be created at new Wiltshire science park
Thousands of jobs will be created and Wiltshire will be firmly at the forefront of the science and technology industries when a new state-of-the-art science park is built thanks to a successful £10m bid for Government funding.
Wiltshire Council and a joint development company comprising Trebor Developments LLP and Wrenbridge Land Limited were successful in a joint bid to develop a science park at Porton, which will create more than 2,000 jobs over a 10-year-period and bring national and international investment into the area.
The Porton Science Park will be based near leading scientific institutions, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at the Porton Down site, near Salisbury.
It will provide facilities for science and research based industries and could attract £70m of private sector investment in the next 10 years. The development is expected to attract high levels of investment from both the UK and foreign bioscience and healthcare.
The successful bid for £10m funding from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will help kick-start the first phase of the total science park project creating the infrastructure for the planned 355,000 sq ft science park and a new 23,000 sq ft innovation centre.
Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said: “This is another example of how Wiltshire is open for business and how vital it is to take every opportunity to boost our economy. Our workforce, travel links and public and private sector partnerships make this county a great place in which to invest and we are seeing this time and time again.
“This is really good news for the whole of Wiltshire as the Porton Science Park will lead the way in the science and technology industry. It will mean more jobs for local people and more investment into this county and its communities. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this successful multi-million pound bid.”
The Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have been supporting the bid and chairman Paul Johnson said: “The LEP has identified the Life Sciences as a sector with great potential for growth and supporting development of the Porton Science Park is one of our priorities – the RGF bid had our full, unqualified support.
"We are delighted that Wiltshire Council, with its development partners, has been successful with this RGF bid and will continue to actively support roll-out of the scheme. The hard work starts now and we will be giving our full support to the development of the investment offer so that businesses come forward with the investment to make it the success story of the decade in south Wiltshire ”
Comments(27)
Ardiles
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9:34am Fri 19 Oct 12
adsinibiza
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10:04am Fri 19 Oct 12
candid friend
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10:46am Fri 19 Oct 12
Bath ran rings round them with promises that only seemed to be a means of achieving what the University wanted in Bath.
UWE flirted with Swindon but nothing happened that I'm aware of.
Things are unlikely to change if Labour get control given their appalling behaviour when they last had a majority.
PaulD
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10:51am Fri 19 Oct 12
Al Smith
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11:01am Fri 19 Oct 12
adsinibiza wrote:Wiltshire has no proper universities, there's no University of Salisbury or University of Wiltshire that brought this science park to Porton Down.
These are the sort of jobs that would come to Swindon if the town had a university.....if only the council leadership could do its job and the local NIMBYs weren't so selfish
Instead of people proposing to have a science and technology park at Wroughton we get someone wanting a car auction lot.
I agree that a university is needed in Swindon and I've said before that if we used all of the town centre redevelopment sites (old college, union square etc.), unused railway workshops and empty offices we could have had one right in the town centre. This would also have provided the shops in town with a massive population of students and lectures as potential customers.
StillPav
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12:21pm Fri 19 Oct 12
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A small university of 2-3000 students will have very little impact of the number of people spending money in the centre of Swindon.
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A large university of say 10,000+ students would have a greater impact on local businesses, but would require a much large campus. Take a look on a map at the area covered by Reading uni for example.
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Couple this with the fact that students want everything cheap, so cue a rise in discount eateries, bars and clubs and of course, not forgetting a significant increase in multi-occupancy homes with the additional strain on parking, local services (students don't pay council tax) etc.
RichardR1
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12:23pm Fri 19 Oct 12
The Artist formally known as Grumpy Old Man
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12:33pm Fri 19 Oct 12
But graduates, already living in the area because they have been to the university also supply local business with a cheap source of labour.
Also, assuming the university doesn't only do media degrees the students tend to be more highly educated. This has a knock on effect in attracting higher tech business to the town/city in question, pushing up business tax receipts and providing higher quality local employment.
There's a reason why hi-tech companies such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM are all based in or around Reading. It's because of the quality of the local workforce....
PaisleyRed
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12:42pm Fri 19 Oct 12
The Artist formally known as Grumpy Old Man wrote:Not true. The reason these companies are in Reading specifically Thames Valley Business Park is Reading geograhically is an ideal location with good communications. The work forces for these companies are drawn from London, Bristol, south coast midlands etc.
Stillpav, what you say is true. But graduates, already living in the area because they have been to the university also supply local business with a cheap source of labour. Also, assuming the university doesn't only do media degrees the students tend to be more highly educated. This has a knock on effect in attracting higher tech business to the town/city in question, pushing up business tax receipts and providing higher quality local employment. There's a reason why hi-tech companies such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM are all based in or around Reading. It's because of the quality of the local workforce....
I currently work in Glasgow however I am at this very moment in TVP Reading with two colleagues, one from Essex, one hampshire and myself Swindon / Paisley.
StillPav
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1:03pm Fri 19 Oct 12
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I agree that a university would create a ready supply of skilled workers, which many local businesses have stressed they are struggling to attract to Swindon, but I for one certainly wouldn't want to be living in an area that attracts a high student population.
Ardiles
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1:26pm Fri 19 Oct 12
Moth
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3:22pm Fri 19 Oct 12
adsinibiza wrote:It's not just the lack of a university it's also because Swindon Borough Council has traditionally charged very high rent and business rates. Add to that the poor state of the town centre which is an eyesore, the drunks falling out of the too many pubs at the lower end of town, cheap tat shops and an abundance of hotels that are usually half empty.
These are the sort of jobs that would come to Swindon if the town had a university.....if only the council leadership could do its job and the local NIMBYs weren't so selfish
Bath is mentioned by Candid Friends. One other thing. Go to Bath in the summer and there are pretty hanging baskets and floral displays everywhere.
Where are they in Swindon? They don't exist any more.
Swindon is a drab, cheerless and tatty town, run down by successive idiots running the Council with grandiose ideas that never got off the ground and cost the taxpayer a lot of money.
Sad really but what's even sadder are the unemployed people desperate to get a job and can't because there's nothing in Swindon now except deprivation.
Oliver Dummassie
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4:21pm Fri 19 Oct 12
I think the university went somewhere else, but there will be houses and a business park to create long term employment
leafy1
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4:36pm Fri 19 Oct 12
The Artist formally known as Grumpy Old Man
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4:52pm Fri 19 Oct 12
LordAshOfTheBrake
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5:40pm Fri 19 Oct 12
I doubt whether many people will travel the 35/40 miles from Swindon to Porton. The road isn't the easiest to travel on either.
Anyone looking at the 35/40 mile commute will firstly head towards Reading where the money is better, or Bristol.
itsamess3
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7:19pm Fri 19 Oct 12
How far do we go to make our planet a safe and secure place--the answer being--it has to be done to secure our future--before not so friendly countries can produce weapons that are silent killers.
RichardR1
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9:36am Sat 20 Oct 12
It's location as has been said is difficult to get to and find, by design originally.
That hasn't and is unlikely to alter, so no car no travel. No job.
faatmaan
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10:03am Sat 20 Oct 12
smokingbeagle
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3:41pm Sat 20 Oct 12
Phantom Poster
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11:03pm Sat 20 Oct 12
itsamess3 wrote:Duh! Thanks! Obviously no-one else here knew that!
Science--both medical and a wide range of the sciences has been conducted at Porton Down for many years--The most famous being the famous cold research centre and the notorious chemical and biological warfare experiments shrouded in secrecy for so many years.
How far do we go to make our planet a safe and secure place--the answer being--it has to be done to secure our future--before not so friendly countries can produce weapons that are silent killers.
Why do you always feel the need to pontificate on here? Is it to backup your alter ego of the internationally renowned scientist? Oh yes, we all believe that, don't we?
itsamess3
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9:31pm Mon 22 Oct 12
You have valid e-mails for both Itsamess and Gordon-both very different--consideri
ng your claims to have excellent security systems you should be able to extract information to determine the IP address any e-mail comes from--you have as yet failed to to do so-thats says you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
You choose to post nonsense on an article as to what proposes to be a very important opporttunity to open up the sciences to the masses--and improve knowledge to all as to new technologies for health and everyday comforts.
Wind your neck in and accept there are more folk that are working for a better world than you could imagine--because you believe only your opinion should be accepted.
Phantom Poster
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10:13pm Mon 22 Oct 12
itsamess3 wrote:So you reckon that from any email you can track down the sender via the IP address?
Bob
You have valid e-mails for both Itsamess and Gordon-both very different--consideri
ng your claims to have excellent security systems you should be able to extract information to determine the IP address any e-mail comes from--you have as yet failed to to do so-thats says you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
You choose to post nonsense on an article as to what proposes to be a very important opporttunity to open up the sciences to the masses--and improve knowledge to all as to new technologies for health and everyday comforts.
Wind your neck in and accept there are more folk that are working for a better world than you could imagine--because you believe only your opinion should be accepted.
Ha! ha! And you claim to be an internationally renowned scientist? Would someone so highly educated (as you constantly claim to be) make such a technical gaffe?
The.Central.Scrutinizer
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11:21pm Mon 22 Oct 12
itsamess3
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7:41am Tue 23 Oct 12
The.Central.ScrutiniAgreed--3 posters who come here regularly purely to aim personal abuse at me.
zer wrote:
I read the comments here, very knowledgable and respectful of other's views...at first, but then how quickly it descended into childish and idiotic prattle. No need to name anyone responsible, its all there to see.
RichardR1
says...
9:54am Tue 23 Oct 12
A totally unrelated rant, and you wonder why people abuse you.
If you antagonise others by your constant, so called, self acclaimed superiority you deserve what you get.
adsinibiza says...
9:02am Fri 19 Oct 12