Economic Development Service

North Shropshire District Council's Economic Development Service provides a wide range of services that help to achieve sustainable economic development and regeneration in North Shropshire.  Services offered include:

Business development

• Encourage and support business networks
• Promote and support local businesses
• Provide business grants
• Provide information and advice to businesses

Land and property and inward investment

• Help bring forward undeveloped employment land
• Instigate the creation of business accommodation
• Market and promote the area to attract businesses
• Identify suitable sites/premises for businesses

Physical regeneration

• Help deliver town centre enhancement schemes
• Encourage redevelopment of redundant buildings
• Support environmental product development schemes

Tourism

• Market the district to visitors and promote local tourism businesses
• Provide visitor information
• Tourism product development

Skills

• Work with partners to help provide training and learning opportunities

Social and Community development

• Work with partners on community development projects that provide economic outcomes

Key achievements

Some of the key economic development achievements for North Shropshire District Council in 2006/07 include:

• Helping to create 216 new jobs
• Helping to create 14 new businesses
• Helping to generate £12,843,000 of inward investment
• Directly assisting 133 businesses with grant assistance, business advice, site/property location searches etc.
• Creating 390 training opportunities through partnership work with the Shropshire Education Business Partnership via events such as the Enterprise Challenge Day and Careers Conventions
• Maintaining an Online Business Directory promoting over 525 businesses in the district (click here to link to the directory)
• Setting up a District Economic Development Forum, which has brought together over 30 businesses from across the district who are working together to instigate projects that will benefit the local economy
• Levering in significant funding through the Ellesmere Market Towns Programme, including: £142,468 total Market Town Programme grant given; £150,832 private sector match funding; £152,578 public sector match funding 

As a result of unit lettings and land sales totalling £569,000 at the Council-owned Ellesmere Business Park, North Shropshire District Council has created:

• 3 new businesses
• 13 new jobs (expected to rise to 30)
• £1.5 million of private sector investment

Through services delivered on behalf of the Council by North Shropshire Tourism and Shropshire Tourism:

• creating or safeguarding 10 jobs in the district
• generating 32,000 visitors to the county
• generating £4.64m of visitor spend across the county
• providing advertising equivalent coverage via the press of £400,882
• receiving 94,000 unique visits to the district's visitor website (an 88% increase on the previous year)
• supporting 90 businesses through a membership scheme offering tangible benefits such as discounts on inspections and a free visitor pass

Examples of significant investments throughout the district include:

• Robert Wiseman Dairies - 100 jobs, £4.5 million inward investment
• Homebase - 40 jobs, £1.5 million inward investment
• Hill Valley Hotel, Golf and Country Club - 80 jobs, £14 million investment
• Argos - 20 jobs, £1.5 million inward investment
• Wilkinsons - 67 jobs, £1.5 million inward investment
• Burnside Business Park - private sector speculative development of business units, £1.65 million investment

Contact the Economic Development Team 

For more information contact a member of the Economic Development Team:

The Promotions Officer (Frank Lauriello)

North Shropshire District Council

Edinburgh House

New Street

Wem

Shropshire

SY4 5DB

Telephone: 01939 238417 

Email: flauriello@northshropshiredc.gov.uk 

Related links

Business support

Click here for information on business support, grants, commercial property and more 

Online Business Directory

The Council has established a new online business directory for North Shropshire companies and now any business can be included. If you run a business in North Shropshire, why not add it to the directory free of charge. The directory is also fully searchable, so if you want to find anything from a particular type of business to a whole range of businesses in a specific location within North Shropshire, you are now able to. Click here to register your business or search for businesses in North Shropshire.  

Facts and figures

Click here for some details regarding the population and employment make up of North Shropshire.  More detailed data can be located on the National Statistics website neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.

This page was last updated on 19 February 2008