As you may or may not be aware, Breckland Council’s REV Project Phase 1 is coming to an end at the end of September 2008. REV was a two year project, starting in October 2006.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support for the REV project over the last couple of years. The REV team and I feel that the project has made a real and lasting difference to the engineering, manufacturing and motorsport sectors in Norfolk and hope that you feel the same.
Here are some of the highlights and achievements of the project:
REV has awarded £600,000 in business grants to companies located in the Breckland District. This has resulted in over £2.5m of local business investment in areas such as equipment, marketing, premises and IT. In addition, the team believe that over 100 jobs have been created as a result of this business investment.
Thetford Enterprise Park (TEP) – we are delighted to be able to confirm that we have received funding support from EEDA for this strategically important project. Over the next few months, you should see a lot of activity on the site to put in place the necessary infrastructure development. A number of high profile businesses are interested in expanding onto TEP, with the potential to create around 1,000 jobs for local people. To keep fully informed about this exciting development, visit www.tep-project.com
The REV team have helped arrange skills development and training for over 400 local people from a number of different organisations. Courses have ranged from ILM Management qualifications to Forklift Truck handling.
The team has worked in partnership with a number of local schools and colleges. For example assisting with apprenticeships, an Engineering Student Convention, and running an innovative activity day for over 250 students in 7 local High Schools.
The project has supported over 400 separate businesses in a variety of ways, including 15 new start-ups, and 2 new companies locating into the area.
REV has promoted the local business community and Norfolk’s inward investment opportunities at a number of events, including four national trade shows.
Our on-line products business community has succeeded in connecting nearly 300 companies together, enabling the associated business benefits of collaboration.
Our regular e-newsletter, REView was sent out to over 250 e-mail addresses and received very positive feedback.
In terms of the future, please be assured that we are currently looking at options to develop new phases of the REV project. Whilst the development of further phases may take a number of months we are hoping to be able to make an exciting announcement about a bigger and better REV initiative in the near future!
In order to assist with this and to evaluate REV generally we would appreciate your feedback and help. As a result we would appreciate it if you could complete the short customer survey attached to this letter and return it to us by the 31st August 2008.
Finally, with the REV project and services coming to a close, we would also like to take this opportunity to provide you with alternative contact details for local business support, people at the end of the phone who would be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
Breckland Council’s Economic Development Service - 01362 656235
Hethel Engineering Centre - 01953 859100
Business Link East - 08457 171615
Once again, we hope that you have enjoyed the benefits of REV over the last 2 years and thank you for your support and involvement. The REV project team have thoroughly enjoyed working with you all!
Mark Stanton
Head of Economic Development - Breckland Council
Please click below to complete the Rev Survey on products and services.