Major investment to create new business units at three key sites
Poster information
Posted on: Thursday 03 May 2018
A multi-million-pound programme of investment to help support start-up businesses at three key sites has been backed by Bridgend County Borough Council.
Councillors have authorised a £5.5m Enterprise Hub Programme to create 1,800 square metres of new business units at Brocastle, develop three new light industrial blocks at the Village Farm Industrial Estate in Pyle, and refurbish the Innovation Centre at the Bridgend Science Park.
The number of new enterprises setting up in Bridgend is increasing at a quicker rate than for Wales as a whole, creating a situation where there are very few available business premises to rent for smaller companies in Bridgend County Borough.
Working in partnership with the Welsh Government, the council’s Enterprise Hub Programme would provide high quality premises for 58 micro to medium enterprises, supporting around 150 jobs.
Now that Cabinet Members and Full Council have given their approval to the proposal, council officers will enter into the final stage of negotiations with Welsh Government and the Welsh European Funding Office in relation to a funding package.
This would represent the largest single programme of business property development ever undertaken by Bridgend County Borough Council.
There are 3,500 registered enterprises in the county borough, and that figure rose 10 per cent between 2010 and 2015. It’s clearly very promising to see such growth, but the current demand for premises from small to medium businesses is outstripping supply.
Councillor Charles Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Education
Out of the county borough’s 3,500 enterprises, 87 per cent of companies are self-employed micro enterprises that each employ fewer than nine people.
Thirty two per cent of the county borough’s workforce are employed by micro enterprises, while small companies (10 – 49 employees) account for 16 per cent of the workforce and 13 per cent of the workforce are employed by medium companies (50 – 249 employees).