LLEP chair will not seek re-election at end of current term
The chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) has told directors and officers that he will not seek re-election at the end of his current term.
Kevin Harris paid tribute to work completed by colleagues during his four years as chair as he informed them that he would stand down when his current term ends this month.
Mr Harris’ final LLEP Board meeting as chair is on April 12. He has chaired the LLEP since 2018, having spent the prior four years as deputy chair.
His time as chair coincided with delivery of a host of major strategic projects. These include the further development of regional enterprise zones, including Space Park Leicester and the ongoing Pavilion 4 at Sport Park on the LUSEP campus.
Mr Harris also led the LLEP’s role in the successful East Midlands Freeport bid, as well as its response to both the pandemic and the Government’s recent Levelling Up White Paper.
Mr Harris said he was proud that the decision at the time to move ahead with many of the initiatives originally incorporated into the Local Industrial Strategy, and now part of the recently developed LLEP Economic Growth Strategy, was paying dividends. Both pieces of work were produced despite increasing uncertainty in the external environment.
Mr Harris said: “Developing the Local Industrial Strategy was an important stage for the LLEP in enabling us to focus on our strengths and what makes us unique.
“It framed our thinking for the Economic Growth Strategy in terms of how and where we can build a post-Pandemic future which is innovative, inclusive, productive and sustainable.
“There’s undoubtedly lots of change still to come. We recognise that and remain bold in shaping our response to the future.
“But I’m proud that the LLEP is well set up to meet the challenges and the end of this current term therefore feels a natural point to hand the baton on to a new chair.”
Mr Harris will remain on the LLEP Board until the AGM, likely to take place in October, as he seeks to ensure a smooth transition.
Subject to Board agreement on April 12, LLEP vice-chair Andy Reed OBE will serve as interim chair until the AGM and the appointment of a permanent replacement.
Mr Reed said: “Kevin has chaired the LLEP with huge commitment and focus during a challenging period of continual change. He is right to draw attention to the ongoing importance of the Industrial Strategy he helped to drive forward.
“The national conversation continues around the role of LEPs, in relation to County Deals and the wider Levelling Up agenda, and I look forward to working with local partners on that through to October.
“In the meantime, it’s an appropriate time to reiterate our appreciation of Kevin and the LLEP team for all they have done already.”
The LLEP has invested more than £500m in Leicester and Leicestershire since incorporation in 2011, creating more than 6,900 jobs in the process.
In December, Mr Harris led the launch of the Economic Growth Strategy – a key strategic document which focuses on innovation, productivity, sustainability and inclusivity in the years through to 2030.
As well as his work with the LLEP, Mr Harris is a board member of the Midlands Engine and the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce. He is also Leicester managing partner and regional accounting head for RSM UK.
Land deal sealed for Leicestershire housing development
Specialist land development and property consultancy Mather Jamie has completed the sale of land which will be developed for housing in the village of Wymeswold in North Leicestershire.
The 5.2 acre greenfield site was bought to market by Mather Jamie acting as the sole agent working co-operatively with Rainier Developments who had promoted the site for housing and successfully obtained Outline Planning Permission for 65 dwellings.
The land has been sold on an unconditional basis to private housebuilder Dandara who expect to start work on site later in 2022 to create much needed new housing in this rural village location.
Mather Jamie was first instructed by the landowners in 2018 and during this period have advised their clients at all steps along the way with selection of a suitable land promoter, monitoring of the planning promotion exercise and thereafter managing the sale process in such a way as to maximise the value achieved, finally guiding the landowners through the legal aspects of the sale process in under six weeks.
Mather Jamie senior associate director, Gary Kirk, said: “The rise in house prices over recent months means there is high demand for this type of greenfield development site.
“This is creating unprecedented opportunities for the owners of land that has development potential to seek advice from experts like ourselves who have an in depth understanding of the planning requirements to build developments in rural areas.
“We are delighted to have been successful in matching our vendor with Dandara as we know they will be sensitive to the needs of local community and environment.”
Chris Higgins, land & development director at Dandara, said: “At Dandara we create beautiful homes in desirable locations.
“The development is in a tranquil location at the edge of Wymeswold village meaning buyers will have excellent facilities on hand, as well as being midway between Nottingham and Leicester, providing good employment opportunities.
“It’s also within easy reach of a brilliant village primary school and this, coupled with the new play area we are creating, means it will appeal to families. We’re sure the development will be a welcome addition to the community for local buyers.”
Joshua Sinnett from Rainier Developments added: “We are pleased to have completed the sale of the land at Wymeswold to Dandara which will help support their ambitious growth plans across the East Midlands. Having promoted the land on behalf of the landowner since 2019 the site will provide much needed family housing in this sought after Leicestershire village.”
Stoneygate Trust and University of Leicester combine to create pioneering new Centre for Empathic Healthcare
The Stoneygate Trust and University of Leicester have combined to create a pioneering new Stoneygate Centre for Excellence in Empathic Healthcare.
This unique £10m Centre, co-funded by the University and The Stoneygate Trust, will ensure that medical students and healthcare professionals across the UK are taught about the vital importance of empathy as an integral part of all aspects of their medical training.
As part of its work, the new Centre will develop and deliver empathy-focused training for undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare students and professionals in Leicester, with the aim of making this available nationally.
Leicester Medical School is currently the only institute in the UK to deliver a mandatory empathy-focused curriculum to its Foundation Year students, despite an increasing recognition of the hugely positive benefits that empathy can bring to healthcare provision. This training will now be enhanced and extended across the whole School.
The Centre will focus on empathy at all stages in medical training including for example, developing and refining recruitment selection criteria to proactively assess students’ aptitude for empathy when they apply for healthcare degree programmes. We will also further develop our complementary outreach programmes to continue to widen access for underrepresented groups to all areas of health and social care education.
The Centre will also undertake pioneering research into the impact of empathic care on both patients and practitioners, and campaign for empathy to be placed at the heart of our healthcare system.
Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester said: “Our vision is to create a Centre of excellence that will lead the sector in placing empathy at the heart of improved and effective healthcare for patients locally and across the UK.
“Through the expertise and dedication of the team, and with the generous and inspirational philanthropic support of The Stoneygate Trust, we will cement Leicester’s place at the forefront of the empathic healthcare movement, and as a world-leader in producing the most highly capable and empathic doctors and practitioners.”
Sir Will Adderley, Founder and Trustee of The Stoneygate Trust, said: “The Stoneygate Trust is delighted to build on the success achieved by Stoneygate and the University with the Leicester Medical Foundation Programme over the last five years. This has demonstrated the power of empathic healthcare and developed real champions amongst students from diverse backgrounds.
“The University and the Trust together are now building a Centre of Excellence in Empathic Healthcare to train doctors to achieve both better outcomes for patients and increased resilience amongst healthcare professionals. I am very excited by the far-reaching potential of this major initiative.”
Professor Richard Holland, Head of Leicester Medical School, said: “A medical school’s job is to create talented graduates with excellent knowledge, clinical skills, and ability to consult. At Leicester, our ambition has always been to take that mission further and ensure that our students also have a genuinely holistic and empathic approach to all their patients.
“This unique Centre will allow us to undertake a step change in the way we educate and develop doctors of the future, to ensure patients feel that they have been cared for with empathy. I am excited to see the long-term impact that the work of the Centre will have on our students and their future patients.
“It is only through partnership with The Stoneygate Trust that we will be able to realise our shared vision.”
Empathy is a complex term but in the clinical setting we take it to mean the ability to understand a patient’s perspective, their situation and feelings, being able to communicate this understanding to them and then acting on it, with the patient, in a therapeutic and helpful way.
The Stoneygate Trust is a charity established in 2007 by Sir Will and Lady Nadine Adderley, with a particular focus on medical research and helping to support equal educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged children and students.
The new Stoneygate Centre for Excellence in Empathic Healthcare is proposed to officially launch in Autumn later this year.
PKF Smith Cooper appoint new Audit Director
PKF Smith Cooper is delighted to welcome Audit Director Barbara Sims to the team.
Barbara has over 15 years practice experience, working with a variety of clients from owner managed businesses to charities and academies. Her role will be primarily internal, focusing on audit quality and providing technical support to the audit team.
Prior to joining the firm, Barbara worked for 5 years as CFO for a multi-academy trust, which will provide invaluable insights into the challenges facing the sector and add strength to the education offering of the firm.
The audit team at PKF Smith Cooper, of which Barbara will be a key member, work with all types of clients from large corporations to SMEs and not-for-profit organisations, across a variety of sectors, providing tailored advice on all manner of audit, assurance, and advisory matters.
Sarah Flear, Partner and Head of Audit, comments: “I am pleased to welcome Barbara to the team, who will have an integral role in the development of the firm’s audit team, internal quality, and compliance.
Barbara brings with her valuable industry experience, including the education sector, and I look forward to working with her as we continue to provide tailored advice and recommendations, helping our clients achieve their objectives”.
Paragon completes £3.3m finance package with Lodge Park Homes for Milton Keynes scheme
Northampton-based Lodge Park Homes has secured a £3.3 million funding package from Paragon Development Finance to support its new build scheme in Wavendon, Milton Keynes.
Laine Rise is a development of 23 new build apartments, including seven affordable units. The apartments have been designed to offer more space than a typical flat, with some units reaching 1,000 square foot, the same size as a typical three-bedroom house.
Lodge Park Homes was inspired to build the new apartments after receiving increasing enquiries from Londoners who wanted to leave the city for the countryside in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The developers saw the trend continuing so planned for a development that would give city-dwellers the space they needed with great public transport links in a breath-taking location.
The deal is the fourteenth finance facility Paragon has provided to the company, led by Relationship Director Adrian Reeves and Portfolio Manager Bonnie McCloskey.
James Browning, Lodge Park Technical Director, said: “Laine Rise is situated on the outskirts of the beautiful village of Wavendon and near the popular Stables Theatre, which was made famous by the late Dame Cleo Laine and her husband Sir John Dankworth, who were exceptional jazz musicians. Laine Rise is also a short distance away from local train stations, bus routes and the market town of Woburn, as well as a short drive from the M1.”
He added: “Paragon was once again very easy to deal with. The company saw the value in the scheme straight away and the process was smooth and simple.”
Adrian Reeves added: “These apartments offer something different to the usual. They are as spacious as a family home and cater for both existing Milton Keynes residents, but also those maybe looking to leave the capital for some more space. Milton Keynes is less than an hour into London, so it’s an ideal location.”
XPO Logistics awarded Tesco contract for distribution of chilled foods
XPO Logistics, a leading provider of freight transportation services based in Northampton, has been awarded a multi-year contract by Tesco plc to manage Tesco’s chilled distribution to stores in the North West region in the UK. Tesco is the UK’s largest retailer of groceries and general merchandise and a leading fuel retailer. Under the new agreement, XPO will be responsible for temperature-controlled transport using XPO fleet and drivers despatched from Tesco’s distribution centre in Widnes, Cheshire.
Additionally, the two companies will collaborate on developing a plan for a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative solution that supports Tesco’s sustainability objectives. In 2009, Tesco became the first business globally to set a goal of becoming net-zero carbon by 2050.
XPO has provided non-food transport services to Tesco UK for over 25 years. The company deploys a dedicated fleet of tanker trucks and specially trained drivers to collect fuel at 15 refineries and deliver it to nearly 500 consumer filling stations across the UK.
Dan Myers, managing director – UK and Ireland, XPO Logistics, said, “Tesco and XPO have built trust between our two businesses over many years by working together to ensure a robust supply chain. We believe this has created a solid foundation for the future development of our partnership. Providing transport operations at Widnes distribution centre is a natural evolution in our relationship, and we look forward to supporting Tesco in delivering this next phase in their logistics strategy.”
Is the East Midlands a new commuter belt?
For years now, the Conservative government has pledged to revitalise the north and turn it into an economic powerhouse to rival that of the south.
The latest attempt to achieve this objective involved a series of rail upgrades, which included the highly anticipated eastern leg of HS2. That was meant to run between the Midlands and Leeds, creating a superb transport link for the Midlands and North of England. However, those plans have been scrapped in favour of less costly measures to serve cities like Leeds and Manchester.
Nevertheless, is the East Midlands becoming another premier commuter belt, rivalling that of London’s? Let’s discuss!
The East Midlands is Close to Business Hubs
With proposed upgrades to transport links between the East Midlands and Leeds, we’ll see two of the UK’s emerging commercial hubs better connected.
This is ideal from the perspective of the centrally located East Midlands, which will soon have a long list of major cities with which it shares realistic proximity through public transport.
Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds will all be within commuting distance for East Midlands residents, while London could even be a possibility for those only working in the office once or twice a week.
This makes it ideal as a potential commuter location, especially with employees increasingly likely to seek out homes in affordable and well-connected areas while retaining job roles in bustling central locations such as London, Birmingham and Leeds.
The East Midlands Boasts More Attractive House Prices
The East Midlands also offers access to some genuinely affordable property options, with the average home valued at £216,077 as recently as May 2021.
You’ll also find a raft of new build houses in Nottingham and the surrounding areas, creating affordable and flexible options for buyers while also enabling them to customise elements of the interior design.
Of course, house prices in the East Midlands are continuing to rise, so they won’t always be as affordable or offer the same value for money.
So, you may want to consider your move sooner rather than later, especially if you want to achieve the best value for your hard-earned cash!
Working Patterns are Changing
While many thought that the coronavirus would usher in the age of remote working (or at least accelerate the transition to working from home on a more permanent basis), it’s hybrid working that has proved more popular.
This means that employees will split their time between the office and their home, usually spending two or three days at work before leveraging remote working for the remainder of the time.
Regardless, people are seeking out more flexible working arrangements, enabling them to live further away from their work and expand into more rural and quieter areas away from city centres.
They can do this without compromising on logistics, especially when they target beautiful and semi-rural areas like the East Midlands that also offer access to exceptional transport and commuter links.
200 jobs saved as modular construction business sold
The administrators of Caledonian Modular, Mike Denny and Mark Firmin from professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal, have sold the company to the JRL Group, an integrated construction business with sites across the UK, following an independent sale process.
The sale has secured the future of Caledonian Modular, which is the UK’s largest modular construction company, and saved over 200 jobs at its Newark site.
Mike Denny, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal, said: “The twin challenges of the pandemic and rising inflation have placed strain on balance sheets for businesses across the UK, including those in the construction sector.
“We are delighted to have secured a sale of the business to JRL Group, rescuing the UK’s largest modular construction specialist. We wish the business and its new owners every success for the future.”
Belvoir records 25 years of unbroken profit growth
Belvoir, the property franchise and financial services group, has recorded 25 years of unbroken profit growth in its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Hailing “another year of strong growth,” the business, which has its central office in Grantham, posted a record level of group revenue at £29.6m, increasing by 37% in comparison to 2020 (£21.7m), with 12% attributable to acquired businesses and 25% to like-for-like growth.
Meanwhile the firm saw a 39% increase in profit before tax to £9.3m, up from £6.7m in 2020, marking 25 years of consecutive profit growth.
The results follow the acquisitions of Nicholas Humphreys in March 2021 and the mortgage advisory arm of The Nottingham Building Society (NBS) in July 2021.
Dorian Gonsalves, Chief Executive Officer, said: “2021 was the busiest year for our sector in recent times with residential property sales transactions at their highest level since 2007, which boosted both our growing estate agency and financial services businesses.
“We worked closely with our property franchisees and financial services advisers to ensure that they were best placed to respond to the strong market conditions, which drove significant organic growth of 25%.
“In addition to benefitting from the strong market conditions, we took the opportunity to make two strategic acquisitions. Adding the national Nicholas Humphreys franchise network to the Group has enabled us to extend our professional lettings service to encompass the specialist student lettings market.
“We also further strengthened our strategic alliance with the Nottingham Building Society, through the acquisition of its mortgage advisory arm, giving us access to its online savers who we hope will be our future mortgage clients.
“Since the year end, the Group has added a home-based agency network to its stable of property franchise brands, demonstrating the Board’s ongoing commitment to identifying suitable acquisition targets to support Belvoir’s continued growth.
“Given our significant recurring and reliable lettings revenue stream and our substantial financial services client base to draw upon during what is currently a strong market for remortgages, we remain confident that we will continue to perform well relative to the market as a whole, and that our business model and growth strategy will continue to deliver enhanced value for all our stakeholders.”
Lincs director guilty of exposing public to asbestos gets prison term
A Grantham man has received a suspended prison sentence for deceiving the public about his ability to handle asbestos safely.
A court heard that between 2017 and 2019, Lee Charles of Caldicot Gardens acted as a de facto director of Lincs Demolition Ltd in securing lucrative jobs. He was able to do so by marketing himself as a registered asbestos-removal specialist.
Charles operated his deception in 43 towns and cities across England.
When disturbed, asbestos is a hazardous substance and carcinogenic, something Charles knew, but he also claimed to be registered with the Environment Agency. He was neither a specialist or registered.
The use of asbestos in the UK was subject to an outright ban in 1999, after certain types became outlawed in the 1980s.
Lincoln crown court was told Charles pleaded guilty to lying to customers and giving false paperwork to disguise his deception.
Having duped his customers, waste asbestos was stashed in hired storage containers in Welbourn, Lincolnshire, just 200 metres from a school and close to a Girl Guide centre.
Charles told the owners of the storage space that he wanted to keep tools there. When he failed to pay the rent on the containers, the owners forced the locks and were confronted with the dangerous contents.
Once exposed, Charles, 40, abandoned the storage containers at Welbourn, moving his activities to an unpermitted waste site in Little Hale, near Sleaford. He continued to store asbestos unsafely, posing a risk to public health.
Imposing a 12-month prison sentence, recorder Paul Mann told Charles, who has a string of previous convictions that he “knew the regulatory regime well enough to know what he was doing was seriously wrong.”
However, he said that he was “just” able to suspend the sentence for a period of 2 years so that Charles could pay the Environment Agency’s costs. Charles will also be required to pay compensation to the owners of the Welbourn containers for the not insignificant costs they had incurred in cleaning up the site.
Charles was told that he must return to Lincoln crown court in June for consideration of financial orders, including the potential confiscation of his proceeds of crime.
Paul Salter, waste crime officer for the Environment Agency in Lincolnshire, said: “Lee Charles’ crimes were not just illegal, but dangerous.
“In spite of repeated warnings and advice from the Environment Agency, Lincs Demolition, under Charles’ direction, put both the environment and public health at risk.
“Asbestos when inhaled causes serious health problems, the careless storage of which presents a significant hazard, with a risk to the life.
“Taking Charles’ avoidance of costs into consideration, from appropriate staff training to safe storage, Lincs Demolition avoided business costs of at least £50,000.
“It is imperative that all waste businesses have the correct permits in place to protect themselves, the environment and the public. We support businesses trying to do the right thing, only issuing enforcement notices, and penalising businesses as a last resort.”
In 2015, illegal waste activity was estimated to cost over £600 million in England alone, with the figure for the UK likely to be much higher. Charles pleaded guilty to 2 counts of operating a waste operation without a permit, contrary to Regulations 12, 38(1)(a) and 41(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. He also pleaded guilty to 2 counts of keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm, contrary to Sections 33(1)(c), 33(6) and 157(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. On 13 June the court will decide costs against Charles in favour of the Environment Agency and the proceeds of crime order.