About the Alliance SSP

Introduction to the Alliance SSP

The Alliance SSP is one of seven sub-regional strategic partnerships across the East Midlands. Ours is a dynamic cross-border partnership of talented – and committed – people, drawn from the public and private sectors, voluntary and community organisations. From an exceptionally rich pool of experience, skills and expertise we are forging strategic partnerships to speed up the growth of economic prosperity across North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.

The challenge is a significant one and cannot be solved by a one-size-fits-all-the-region economic strategy. Each area has a particular set of economic circumstances resulting from a unique blend of historic, social and demographic dynamics. emda, the regional development agency for the East Midlands, recognises this, which is why it has vested in us the responsibility of applying its economic vision to our sub-regional needs and allocating resources and funding accordingly.

Our primary role is to forge effective partnerships that will deliver economic growth across the sub-region. With guaranteed annual funding of almost £10m over the next three years, we can deliver strategic, economic projects in key areas.

The Alliance SSP has four specialist Issue Groups, with members from relevant sectors, focusing on the issues that affect economic growth. These are:

As a partnership we must continue working to overcome the low-skills, low-wage legacy that impacts most heavily on the most deprived communities of the sub-region. Key strategic goals include

  • Lobbying key decision makers at all levels to encourage more public and private sector investment in the sub-region
  • Encouraging employers to increase their commitment to training their workforce and in return making a commitment to improving basic educational attainment and a range of vocational courses that meet employers’ needs
  • Tackling unemployment among all age groups by helping to raise both aspirations and skills
  • Developing effective marketing strategies to showcase the sub-region as a serious business location and tourism option
  • Encouraging and nurturing innovation to create a knowledge-based economy generating higher skills and salaries

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Meet the Board

Our 14 board members are responsible for ensuring that we maintain our strategic focus and bring together an exceptionally rich pool of experience, skills and expertise. ASSP board members are representative of the breadth of our partnership’s role and goals; drawn from the business community, local authorities, other public sector bodies and the community and voluntary sector and unions.

Board members
Name Title Organisation
Richard Wilkins Chair Chartered Surveyor and Partner , Wilkins Hammond, Commercial Property Agents and Valuers
Lee Adams Board Member Chief Executive,  North East Derbyshire District Council
Cllr. Kate Allsop Board Member Mansfield District Council
Cllr. Roger Blaney Board Member Newark & Sherwood District Council
Janet Bibby Enterprising Communities Issue Group Chair Chief Executive, Coalfields Regeneration Trust
Beverly Burton Board Member Director, No Limits Education and Training Ltd
Cllr Geoff Carlile Board Member  Cabinet member for Regeneration,
Derbyshire County Council.
Cllr Steve Carroll Economic Infrastructure Issue Group Chair Cabinet member for Culture and Regeneration,
Nottinghamshire County Council.
George Cowcher Board Member Chief Executive, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce
Rob Crowder Board Member Chief Executive, Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire
Chris Fitzpatrick Board Member Chairman of the Board of Trustees, East Midlands School for Social Entrepreneurs
Nigel Jackson Employment & Skills Issue Group Chair Director of Economic Development, Learning & Skills Council Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire
Frank Lord Board Member Director, Lord Corporate Associates (LCA)
Christine Wood Board Member TUC Midlands Region representative

 

Biographies

Richard WilkinsRichard Wilkins BSc (Hons) MRICS
Richard Wilkins is a Chartered Surveyor and Partner in Wilkins Hammond, a Chesterfield-based firm of Commercial Property Agents and Valuers, Land and Development Consultants, Commercial and Residential Property Managers.

Richard is a Director of Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a past Director of North Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry and currently serves as a Chamber Representative on the Chesterfield Innovation Centres Management Committee. He is a past Chairman of Notts & Derbys Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Junior Organisation.

Prof Lee Adams, Cert Ed, Dip Health Ed, MA, MPhil
Lee was originally a teacher in London. She then spent 30 years in the NHS in Public health and health commissioning work. She worked in London, Cambridge, Salford, Sheffield, Wakefield and her final post was as Director of Public Health (DPH) in Leeds before moving into Local Government 4 years ago.

Lee has extensive experience of Local Strategic Partnerships. As part of her role as DPH Lee led for the 5 Leeds PCTs in working with Leeds City Council, she also led on Partnership work in terms of Equalities and Diversity across Leeds. Lee also co-chaired the East Leeds Health and Social Well-being Partnership and was very involved in regenerating East Leeds.

Lee is now the Chief Executive of North East Derbyshire Council where she has been for just over a year. Lee also holds Honorary Chairs at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Leeds. She is also Chair of a national public arts charity - Beam.

Councillor Geoff CarlileCouncillor Geoff Carlile
Geoff Carlile has been prominent in Derbyshire public life for more than 25 years and was first elected to Derbyshire County Council in 1977. As the county council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and formerly its Chair of the Finance and Economic Development sub committee, he is an acknowledged expert in economic development and regeneration matters.

Geoff has led many of the authority’s efforts to secure new investment in the county, creating new employment opportunities and protecting existing jobs in different business sectors. Vice-Chairman of the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, he is also the county council’s representative on Business Link and is a member of all the county’s LSPs (Local Strategic Partnerships).

Robert CrowderRobert Crowder B.A. (Open) Dip. Environmental Health M.C.I.E.H. Dip. Housing Management
Robert Crowder trained as an Environmental Health Officer in Birmingham and spent a number of years in the Urban Renewal section before moving to Nottinghamshire. After working for Gedling Borough Council as Principal Officer (Sustainable Development) he was appointed in May 2001 to Nottinghamshire County Council as Sustainability Team Manager. Here, Robert was responsible for a team which covered work on Community Climate Change, Agenda 21, Environmental Management Systems, Awareness Raising, Staff Travel Management and Corporate Carbon reduction. He now Chairs the Nottinghamshire Agenda 21 Steering Group and was a founding editor for “Living for Tomorrow” sustainability magazine. In February 2007 he was appointed Chief Executive at Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire.

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ASSP Senior Management Team

Andrew StreetAndrew Street, Chief Executive
Andrew has been Chief Executive of the Alliance SSP since May 2003 prior to which he held similar posts with the London Development Agency (LDA) and Suffolk Development Agency. While at the LDA, Andrew was responsible for the Agency’s relationship with Business Link London and for SME funding initiatives. He also played a key role in the initial stages of establishing a dedicated sub-regional body for North London, now operating as North London Business.

During the 1990s Andrew worked in Derbyshire in a venture capital capacity; funding a variety of businesses with turnover in the £2m-£24m bracket and championing investors’ views on a variety of company boards as a non-executive director.

Andrew also spent a period running his own property business in London, before which he was employed as a professional economist both with the CBI, a fund management company and as an independent consultant.

Andrew has economics degrees from Leeds and London Universities.

John CunninghamJohn Cunningham, Head of Operations
John Cunningham joined the ASSP in 2007 after nearly three years as Regional Business Development Manager for emda, where he was responsible for conceiving, developing and managing the successful Mentoring Escalator scheme. To date, more than 300 SMEs in the region have benefited from the Mentoring Escalator scheme. After securing multi-million pound funding the scheme – now expanded – is continuing as ‘Mentoring for All’.

A civil engineering graduate, John has extensive private sector experience, having worked for more than a decade for a multi-national construction materials group in a role that included researching and establishing new operations in Hungary and India.

After returning to his native Northern Ireland, John remained focussed on the construction sector for a further two years before establishing himself as an interim manager supporting SMEs. It was in this role that John first came into contact with development agencies including Invest Northern Ireland. In November 2004 John joined emda where his role as Regional Business Development Manager also involved delivering major projects in conjunction with BioCity and Nottingham Trent University.

Stefanie StubbsStefanie Stubbs, Strategic Partnership Manager
Born and educated in North Nottinghamshire, Stefanie went on to attend the Universities of Keele and Anglia Ruskin before joining a locally based training provider. In 1999 she joined the North Nottinghamshire Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) holding roles including European funding and vocational training contract management. Following transition from TECs to the Learning and Skills Council, Stefanie worked at management level at a local learning and skills office where her public sector role focused on increasing participation in learning and employment, raising workforce skills, quality improvement and strategic planning in relation to learning provision. Joining the SSP’s senior management team in 2004, Stefanie has responsibility for Employment and Skills and Enterprising Communities programmes as well as corporate marketing, events and PR. All her public and private sector roles have centred upon economic development and the wider regeneration agenda.

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Key Economic Indicators

In 2007 a statistical profile of the Alliance sub-region was prepared by emda. The following is an executive summary of key economic, labour market and social indicators.

  1. Population
    • The population of the Alliance SSP in 2005 was 705,000 people. Recent population growth in the Alliance (1995-2005) has been the second slowest of any SSP area in the East Midlands. Within the Alliance, the fastest growth was in Ashfield, whilst the populations of Mansfield and North East Derbyshire declined.
    • The population of the Alliance is projected to grow by 78,500 people (11.2%) between 2004 and 2029, with the strongest growth forecast in Newark and Sherwood and the slowest growth in Mansfield.
    • All the population growth in the Alliance SSP between 1995 and 2005 was due to net in-migration. However, the numbers of both domestic and, particularly, international migrants are relatively small compared to other SSPs.
    • The school age population in the Alliance is forecast to decline between 2004 and 2029, more significantly than in the East Midlands as a whole.
    • A substantial increase in the pensionable age population is forecast in all districts within the Alliance, ranging from a 51% increase in Chesterfield to an 83% increase in Bassetlaw.
  2. Economy and Productivity
    • GVA per head in both East Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire has been below the regional and UK averages since 1995.
    • Over the decade 2006-2016, GVA growth in the Alliance is forecast to be the second smallest of any SSP area (at 28% compared to 30% for the East Midlands as a whole).
    • Two of the RES (Regional Economic Strategy) priority sectors – Construction and Food and Drink – make up a larger proportion of output and employment in the Alliance sub-region than they do in the both the East Midlands and the UK as a whole. Employees in these sectors are at least as productive as those in the East Midlands or UK as a whole.
    • Heavy industries such as Mining and Minerals make a significantly greater contribution to the Alliance sub-regional economy, relatively speaking, than they do to the regional and national economies.
    • The density of businesses in the Alliance SSP is lower than the regional average – that is, there are fewer businesses per 10,000 adults in the Alliance SSP than in the East Midlands.
    • The majority of businesses (67%) are in the service sector, while 25% are manufacturing and construction businesses, and just 7% are involved in primary production (which includes agriculture and mineral extraction). Despite the dominance of services, the economic contribution made by ‘higher value added’ service sectors is relatively small compared to the East Midlands and UK.
    • Since 1994 there has been a decline in the number of businesses in the primary production sector in the Alliance SSP. However, there was significant growth in the number of manufacturing and construction businesses, in contrast to other parts of the East Midlands. The share of all businesses accounted for by manufacturing and construction has changed very little, though.
    • Business start-up rates in the Alliance SSP are below the regional average. There is significant variation across the sub-region, from Bolsover, with the lowest rate, to Newark and Sherwood, with the highest rate.
    • More than a third of SMEs in the Alliance SSP do not use computers. Of those that do use ICT, 86% have an Internet connection and 41% use remote working practices.
  3. Labour Market
    • Economic activity and employment rates in the Alliance SSP are significantly below the regional average, but are higher in Newark and Sherwood.
    • Unemployment rates are above the regional average in the Alliance SSP, with Mansfield having the second highest rate of any district in the East Midlands.
    • The proportion of the working age population in the Alliance SSP who are self-employed is higher than the regional average. Newark and Sherwood has by far the highest rate of self-employment of any district in the East Midlands, at 19%.
    • Residents of the Alliance SSP are less likely to be qualified to NVQ Level 2 or to degree level (NVQ Level 4) than the East Midlands average. However, the Alliance SSP has the highest proportion of people who have reached an NVQ Level 3.
    • The average earnings of individuals working in the Alliance SSP are below the regional average, with women earning just over half the pay of men on average.
    • Many higher earners living in districts like Bassetlaw and North East Derbyshire commute to work in urban centres elsewhere. This means that the earnings of those who live in these districts are significantly higher than the earnings of those who work there. Meanwhile, the higher average earnings of workers compared to residents in Bolsover and Ashfield are a reflection of the high proportion of in-commuters amongst the workforce in these districts.
    • Employment growth for the Alliance SSP over the next decade is forecast to be below the regional average, at 2.5% compared to 3.1%
  4. Deprivation and socio-economic inclusion
    • Levels of multiple deprivation in the Alliance SSP are amongst the highest in the East Midlands. Half of the 10 most deprived districts in the region are in the Alliance SSP.
    • In terms of both income and employment deprivation, Mansfield is the fifth most deprived local authority in the East Midlands, whilst Newark and Sherwood and North East Derbyshire are the least deprived districts within the Alliance SSP
    • The proportion of people claiming benefits is higher in the Alliance SSP than in the East Midlands as a whole, particularly for benefits relating to ill health or disability.
    • The numbers of people claiming benefits are highest in Bolsover and lowest in Newark and Sherwood and North East Derbyshire
    • Crime rates in the Alliance SSP tend to be broadly in line with the East Midlands average.
  5. Housing and Transport
    • In 2005-06, 15% of all new homes completed in the East Midlands were built in the Alliance SSP. The Alliance is one of only two SSPs which have seen a fall in new housebuilding since 2002/03.
    • Average house prices in the Alliance SSP are the lowest of any SSP area, by a significant margin. However, prices have increased markedly since 2001, in line with the region as a whole. The latest figures show that the average house price in the Alliance SSP is £136,152 and in the East Midlands £159,237.
    • The most expensive homes in the sub-region are in Newark and Sherwood and North East Derbyshire, whilst the lowest-priced homes are in the former coalfields areas.
    • Affordable homes make up a significantly smaller proportion of new homes in the Alliance SSP than in the East Midlands as a whole, at 6% compared to 17% for the region.
    • Just over 71% of Alliance residents travelled to work by private motor vehicle in 2001, which is slightly higher than the regional average. Only 7% commuted using public transport, which is in line with the East Midlands average.
  6. Environment
    • The amount of household waste collected per head in the Alliance SSP is the second largest of any SSP area in the East Midlands. Waste recycling rates in the sub-region are the lowest of any SSP area: less than one quarter of all household waste was recycled or composted in 2005/06.
    • River water quality in the Alliance SSP is generally poorer than in the East Midlands as a whole.
    • Emissions of carbon dioxide are below the regional average in the Alliance SSP, but significantly higher in Bolsover (due to the presence of the M1).
  7. Spatial differences
    • One of the clearest messages from the Alliance SSP statistical profile is the significant and consistent contrast in performance between, on the one hand, Newark and Sherwood and North East Derbyshire – where employment rates, qualification levels, business start-up rates, earnings and forecast population growth rates are higher, with unemployment, benefit claimants, and levels of deprivation lower – and, on the other hand, Bolsover and Mansfield, which perform significantly more poorly on these measures.

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