Councillor hails training centre as invaluable
A training centre has been hailed by council officials, who have provided it with nearly half a million pounds for equipment, as invaluable for the county's economic future.
Shropshire Council has provided £499,931 for the Marches Centre for Manufacturing & Technology (MCMT) in Bridgnorth.
The money will be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the £4 million centre, which is based in a 36,000 sq ft facility on the Stanmore Industrial Estate in Bridgnorth.
The centre has been created by a consortium of Classic Motor Cars, Grainger & Worrall, In-Comm Training and Salop Design & Engineering.
Equipment paid for by the council will be used for engineering and automotive apprenticeships.
Nic Laurens, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for economic growth, said the investment is illustrative of the commitment to economic growth.
He said: "This is the first centre of excellence of its kind – focused on small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the fast growing sectors of automation and high value engineering. It will be invaluable in enabling the growth of local firms by providing access to the next generation of skilled individuals.
"To have this developed and based in Shropshire is great for everyone and really helps to put our county on the map.
“This important investment shows that we are serious about supporting skills targeted at the Shropshire economy, directly delivering a priority of our recently-launched economic growth strategy."
MCMT, which has received £1.9m of government growth deal funding from the Marches LEP and financial support from the European Regional Development Fund, will provide a high-tech environment for people to learn from engineering experts on the latest technology.
It will house dedicated fabrication, lathe, metrology, milling, robotics and vehicle trimming sections, as wells as a specialist CNC Zone with more than £1m of machines donated by the Engineering Technology Group.
There will also be an auditorium lecture theatre, bespoke learning environments, five vehicle ramps and a rolling road test facility.
Matthew Snelson, managing director of the Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology, said: “Shropshire has an ageing average population, a greater number of lower skilled, lower paid jobs and a growing need to be more productive.
"The MCMT, with the support of Shropshire Council, the Marches LEP, European Regional Development funding and private sector sponsorship, will address some of these concerns by delivering a world class training hub that will create the next generation of engineers and upskill existing workers so we become more competitive.
"We fit in perfectly with the economic growth strategy and the focus on growing the advanced manufacturer sector so that we increase the region’s ‘value add’, boost wages and, importantly, attract businesses to set-up and expand here.
"Shropshire Council is now on the MCMT Board and will play an important role in helping us achieve our target of supporting 2,020 learners by 2020.”
