Tag: Neil Darwin

Local Enterprise Partnership secures further Growth Deal cash for Cambridgeshire

07:40 Thursday 29th January 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: An extra £38 million of Government money is coming to Cambridgeshire. It’s been granted to the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, which helps promote the county’s economy. It will go towards building the Ely by-pass, improving the M11’s junction at Stansted Airport, and creating a new academy for civil engineering in Huntingdon. Neil Darwin is the Interim Chief Executive of the Enterprise Partnership. Morning Neil. Exactly how are you going to decide how this money is divvied up?
NEIL DARWIN: We’ve been working on that for quite some time. We’ve got a prioritised list, and as you’ve just read out, the ones that surfaced as being the most crucial are the ones that you’ve just mentioned. So we’ve been going through a rather long process with an extremely long list of projects from across the county, and those are the ones that we deem most necessary in the short term.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And how have you got hold of the money?
NEIL DARWIN: It’s though a process that the Government calls Growth Deals, and this is the second round. You may recall we had a round back last summer, where we received £70 million. And again, this is the second round of that process, with clearly a little less money nationally, but that fits where Government is at the moment. We’re very pleased to get our hands on what’s available.
DOTTY MCLEOD: A lot of these projects were going to happen anyway. I’m thinking of the Ely by-pass which has been decided. It will happen no matter what. So how much difference will this really make?
NEIL DARWIN: It’s simply the money. They have been decided. We know they’re necessary. But the missing link is always the money. So again we’ve been working with local partners, the county, the district, to ensure that we can get the money into some of these necessary improvements.
DOTTY MCLEOD: I’m remembering a story that we did last week Neil about the Fletton Parkway in Peterborough, where it’s going to cost £4 million more than the Council thought to complete that widening work. Is there going to be any spare coin for there? Continue reading “Local Enterprise Partnership secures further Growth Deal cash for Cambridgeshire”

Neil Darwin and Ed Goodman on wage cuts at Monarch Airlines

09:22 Thursday 25th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Would you take a pay cut if it meant keeping your job? Well staff at Monarch Airlines have agreed to that. They’re going to take a 30% slice off their pay packet to secure the future of the airline. Well earlier this week the struggling company said it was in talks to secure future funding. It’s Chief Executive warned though there are further hurdles to overcome. Employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of the pay cut. Let’s talk to Ed Goodman. He runs the Cambridge Business Lounge, a business he recently started. And he also mentors startup companies. Ed morning.
ED GOODMAN: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Are there any companies out there you know of that have done similar things?
ED GOODMAN: No there aren’t. I think it’s a very brave decision for the employees to undertake, although in the wake of Monarch announcing 1,000 job cuts only a month ago, I think that probably explains why it was an overwhelming majority that said yes to this. I myself took a pay cut when I moved from one job to another job a few years ago. But the decision was made primarily on two factors, firstly for me that actually the work was one that was going to be more enjoyable, more fulfilling, but most importantly I wouldn’t have done that if I couldn’t have afforded to have done that at the same time.
PAUL STAINTON: Right. OK. So you’ve been in a sort of similar position. Neil Darwin is with us as well. He’s the Director for Enterprise and Skills at the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership. You need to get an acronym for that. Morning Neil.
NEIL DARWIN: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Have you ever heard of this? Any local companies that you know of that have gone this far? We’ve heard of companies changing terms and conditions, haven’t we, to keep people in jobs.
NEIL DARWIN: Absolutely. Locally no, but I’ve shouted out across the office this morning, and someone said that their brother-in-law’s done it in Ireland. So it does happen.
PAUL STAINTON: Obviously keeping jobs at all costs is the way to go. People need to be in work. But 30%, that’s a large sum, isn’t it, out of your pay packet.
Continue reading “Neil Darwin and Ed Goodman on wage cuts at Monarch Airlines”

Get Exporting with GCGP

07:20 Tuesday 29th July 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: A campaign to encourage businesses to get exporting will launch in Peterborough today. The Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Livingston will find out how local businesses are faring when it comes to selling their products to other countries. He’ll taste the coffee at Masterroast’s HQ, before visiting the headquarters of Redring Xpelair, where they’ll launch new state-of-the-art production facilities that will cost £10 million. Neil Darwin is the Director for Enterprise and Skills at the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership.
NEIL DARWIN: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: So get exporting initiative. What does it actually mean? Just words?
NEIL DARWIN: Very simply it’s about encouraging more businesses to get their goods and services overseas. Exporting from this country has a really bad reputation, something that’s seen as being really difficult to do. And what we’re trying to do is de-myth it, and make sure that business understands there is support and advice available to make it a lot lot easier than perhaps they think it is.
Continue reading “Get Exporting with GCGP”

Cambridge Public Wi-Fi Launched

08:06 Monday 23rd June 2014
BBC Radio Cambridge

[P]AUL STAINTON: Free wi-fi launching across central Cambridge today, ahead of the Tour de France arrival on July 7th. It’s been in place in Peterborough city centre for just under a year. Business and locals alike have said a lot of good things about it. Earlier we spoke to Neil Darwin, who’s the Director of Enterprise and Skills at the local enterprise partnership.
(TAPE)
NEIL DARWIN: It’s about having a complete package for a city, which obviously is the line Cambridge is taking. We’re in such a connected world these days, and quite simply it’s something we need to have to be able to compete.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Let’s find out more now about the year-long pilot in Cambridge, and plans to extend it, should it prove a success. I’m joined in the studio by John Holgate, Head of Network at the University of Cambridge, and Noelle Godfrey, who’s Connecting Cambridgeshire Programme Director. Morning.
BOTH: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: A lot of titles to contend with this morning, it has to be said. That’s a mouthful. Connecting Cambridgeshire Programme Director. It’s a big title. It’s a big title. John first of all, explain to those who are unclear about what exactly wi-fi is, and how are they going to benefit from this. Continue reading “Cambridge Public Wi-Fi Launched”

Growth Cities Network

If, like many of us you don’t read the Financial Times behind its paywall, you will have missed an item entitled UK Cities Seek Powers to Boost Growth.

This tells us that group of smaller towns and cities seek additional powers and money from central government to “help the economic performance of the entire country.”

 

Continue reading “Growth Cities Network”

Weeping and Wailing as Green Bank Long Shot Kicks the Bucket

07:21 Friday 9th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The Government announced yesterday where the UK’s Green Investment Bank will be based. You may remember we’ve been bidding for it, we’ve been expecting it, hoping for it, looking for it. Well we didn’t get it. We were snubbed. It’s gone to Edinburgh. Edinburgh of all places. What was Vince Cable playing at? (TAPE)
VINCE CABLE: Edinburgh has a very good financial centre. A lot’s happening in the green industry front. London is a centre for specialist banking. We want to tap into both of them. And we’ve had a competition which showed that those two were the two cities that came out on top. But this is a big step forward. By the end of this year the Green Investment Bank will be getting out good projects. So we’re well on the way to making Britain a world leader in green investment.” (LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well, disappointing for Peterborough. Opportunity Peterborough disappointed too. They put the bid together for the city. Neil Darwin, Director of Economic Development is here with a little frown on your face this morning. Continue reading “Weeping and Wailing as Green Bank Long Shot Kicks the Bucket”

Alconbury Enterprise Zone is Excellent News for Peterborough

07:12 Wednesday 17 August 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

ANDY GALL: Neil Darwin is Director of Economic Development at Opportunity Peterborough, and can speak to us now. Good morning Neil.
NEIL DARWIN: Good morning Andy.
…………..
ANDY GALL: Alconbury have been chosen as the Enterprise Zone by the Government.
NEIL DARWIN: Indeed.
ANDY GALL: Peterborough did apply but wasn’t selected.
NEIL DARWIN: That’s right.
ANDY GALL: Your thoughts this morning?
NEIL DARWIN: We’re really pleased. The important thing was we got an Enterprise Zone in the area, and it’s fantastic news that we have indeed got one. The important thing is that having Alconbury deisgnated means that it’s good for Peterborough, irrespective.
ANDY GALL: Does it mean though that because Enterprise Zones in the ’80s, when they came about, they were sort of blue-chip companies would be drawn to them, but then they became sort of employment blackspots.
NEIL DARWIN: Indeed. It’s a very interesting policy line the Government have taken. Some of them did work in the ’80s. Some of them failed miserably. And again, what the Government have done this time is say that they’re going to focus on growth, growth-focused areas. What they mean by that is they’re going to put them in places like Alconbury, rather than in the middle of Blackburn or Burnley or places of that ilk.
ANDY GALL: But what kind of industry is it going to attract in the current climate?
NEIL DARWIN: At the moment we’ve been talking to Urban & Civic who own the site down there. They’re very keen to try and attract overseas business to the area. And there’s still plenty of demand for that, around some of the modern technologies that are coming forward. So biotech and all those sorts of things. So it’ll be interesting. From a Peterborough perspective it will be very interesting to see how it takes off. And actually the important thing for Peterborough residents is actually having, as Urban & Civic have described in the proposal, up to 6,000, 7,000 jobs. It’s having those jobs on the doorstep, because it’s actually very commutable from Peterborough. So there’s a real win-win there, in terms of having jobs on the doorstep.

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The Future of Peterborough

08:06 Wednesday 27th April 2011
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: A bit of a spat has broken out. Not-for-profit organisation Growborough is being criticised for treading on the toes of another organisation, by launching an advertising campaign to attract new businesses to Peterborough. Publicly funded economic development company Opportunity Peterborough, you may have heard them on the show yesterday, launched a similar strategy in London just a few months ago. We talked about it having the name tag on taxis and billboards and everything else. Well Rowen Squibb is from Growborough. Morning Rowen.
ROWEN SQUIBB: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: What is going on here? We have Opportunity Peterborough, who up until probably I would say a year ago we were some of their fiercest critics. They didn’t really do the job properly, according to lots and lots of people. Nothing really got delivered. But they appear to be doing the job now. They appear to be doing what they said on the tin. Continue reading “The Future of Peterborough”