North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone
North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone (NSRZ) was the national winner of Enterprising Britain 2007. It earned its place in the finals by being named regional winner for the West Midlands.
NSRZ has been recognised for its invaluable role in turning round the economic fortunes of North Staffordshire.North Staffordshire was once home to some of the nation’s great innovators, industrialists and entrepreneurs. Their brands, such as Wedgwood and Spode, are still common household names. The steel, coal, ceramics and tyre manufacturing industries were once the backbone of the local economy.
Over the last 30 years, however, the North Staffordshire area experienced drastic structural change as irreversible decline in its traditional industries resulted in the closure of many factories and businesses and the loss of over 60,000 jobs. The legacy left behind affected all aspects of the economy creating significant challenges for business, skills, health and the physical environment. By 2003 Barclays branded the area “the worst place in the country to start a business”. At that point it had the lowest rate of business start ups and VAT registrations in the country, relatively low levels of self employment, 2,000 businesses short of the national average and 38,000 people out of work to name but a few of its economic ills.
Leaders from business and the public sector understood that this startling decline could not remain unchecked, and the North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone was established. Charged with delivering economic regeneration and acting as a catalyst to deliver transformational initiatives it is made up of a board of 21 directors from the public, private and voluntary sectors. NSRZ’s key objectives are to: develop an enterprise culture; support training, business support networks and finance; change the business environment by improving physical infrastructure and develop collective leadership in enterprise.
North Staffordshire Regenerations Zone has brought enterprise and small business to the forefront of economic development, creating a platform for future activity and growth. NSRZ provides collective leadership and the development of an agreed strategic framework. Individual initiatives to deliver the strategic objectives have been commissioned, and then developed with partner organisations from both private and public sectors. Each initiative is robustly and independently appraised.
The project is about creating solid foundations upon which to develop a new generation of entrepreneurs and so far it has exceeded expectations; helping to create more than 1,000 new jobs and 500 new businesses in the area since the project began. In addition to these businesses over 20 sustainable social enterprises created in North Staffordshire schools, such as The Mitchell Juice Bar, which was set up in Mitchell High School, Bucknall, with a £12,000 funding grant from NSRZ. The juice bar is now being run as a proper sustainable business by the Year 10 BTEC Business Group. Students take on different jobs in the company including marketing, finance and customer services staff roles and any profits are ploughed back into the enterprise. As well as this over 7500 young people have had a real taste of enterprise and North Staffordshire has invested in over 150k sq ft of quality managed workspace, innovatively delivered by a range of partner organisations.
Dr Richard Hutchins, Corporate Director of Economic Development at Advantage West Midlands, said:
“The people of North Staffordshire should be proud of the positive way that the area is responding to the tough economic challenges resulting from the decline in our traditional industries. The North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone deserves praise for bringing together partners from the public and private sectors to develop a new generation of enterprise. The figures speak for themselves – over 500 new businesses created, more than 1,000 new jobs and thousands of young people given the chance to experience what it’s like to run a business.”