Council project brings hundreds of new jobs to Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Council has helped fund the £2m project which supported the launch of Derbyshire Economic Partnership’s (DEP) new ‘Invest in Derbyshire’ service in May this year.

Now the project is being extended for a further three years with the aim of supporting 80 more businesses to relocate to or start up in the county.

Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for economic development and regeneration, councillor Tony King, said: “Derbyshire is a unique destination, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and recognised as a global hub for high value modern manufacturing.

“By attracting businesses to Derbyshire, the project has exceeded its target of creating 86 jobs by an extra 25 posts and is currently dealing with enquiries from dozens more firms considering setting up in the county.

“Over the next three years we’ll focus on delivering an even better and intensive service providing a wide range of specialist inward investment support to small and medium-sized businesses.

“We’ll also look to work with large investors looking to relocate, launch or grow their business with the aim of bringing hundreds of new jobs to Derbyshire.”

Over the next three years, ‘Invest in Derbyshire’ will be funded by £177,928 from the county council on behalf of the Derbyshire Economic Partnership – which includes the county council and Derbyshire’s district and borough councils – and £3.2m as part of the European Regional Development project ‘Invest in D2N2’.

Richard Ledger, managing director of Millitec, a company that has been helped by the scheme, said: “The service helped us secure funding. We have invested in the highest specification equipment and this will allow us to grow rapidly across the next three years.”

Invest in Derbyshire will continue to be delivered on behalf of DEP and the county council by investment promotion agency Marketing Derby.Find out more at www.investinderbyshire.co.uk.