Hull and Humber Leeds City Region North East Sheffield City Region Tees Valley Unlimited York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET Via e-mail only To: Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State for Skills & Enterprise Joint letter in support of the Sheffield City Region High Speed Rail College Bid from: • • • • • • Hull & Humber LEP Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership North East LEP Sheffield City Region LEP Tees Valley Unlimited York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Enterprise Partnership 8th July 2014 Dear Ministers, As private sector-led Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) we are pleased to strongly endorse the Sheffield City Region (SCR) bid for the national High Speed Rail (HSR) College. We believe that the CREATE partnership’s (Centre for Rail Engineering and Technical Excellence) bid for the national HSR College located in Doncaster complements significant existing rail assets and investments in this part of the country. We believe that the SCR is the right place for the location of the college because: 1. A college in the SCR will make sure the benefits of the Government’s HSR investment spreads to northern areas of the country and into local and regional economies beyond the immediate route. Locating the HSR College in the SCR will be an important step to achieving the ‘northern powerhouse’ aspirations announced by the Chancellor last week – with a number of opportunities for strong collaborations between City Regions in Yorkshire and the wider North East, contributing to rebalancing the national economy. 2. SCR has a critical mass of innovative, resilient businesses with international scale, scope and reach. They are already delivering over £6bn investment in the rail industry (excluding HS2 investment). Companies such as Volker Rail, Wabtec Rail, Hitachi Rail, Unipart Rail and Henry Boot Construction are leading the bid to bring the college to the North. 3. The CREATE partnership has a vision beyond HS2 – to create a world class Technical University that will deliver UK infrastructure skills for the long term in a place which already has world-class partnerships between business and the university sector, including the Faculty of Engineering, Rail Technology Innovation Centre and the world-class Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). 4. The Yorkshire Universities Group and Yorkshire Association of Colleges are committed to making the college a success and have already written to the Skills Minister and the Secretaries of State for both Business and Transport, urging the college to be located in this region. The region and wider North East has a network of world class provision that is delivering the high level skills that industry needs now and in the future. In particular our institutions have specialist expertise in the areas of construction and engineering, ensuring a world class knowledge base is available in Yorkshire and the North East for the High Speed Rail College to tap into. 5. Doncaster is the gateway to the North East with excellent connectivity north and south, east and west. The college location will be just 15 minutes away from a proposed HS2 station. Doncaster is already a key hub on the East Coast Main Line and also benefits from excellent road, air and sea connectivity. It is only 20 minutes from York, 27 minutes from Leeds, 53 minutes from Darlington and 88 minutes from central London. 6. Sheffield City Region is able to offer a prime iconic site located in the prestigious Lakeside area of Doncaster with major expansion potential (approx. 11acres), within walking distance to a range of major rail companies supporting the bid. The site is ‘ready to go’ with cost certainty, no enabling works required and will be gifted by the CREATE partnership in recognition of the significance of the economic opportunity. In summary, this is a bid which is driven by business, supported by the UK’s leading education providers and backed by local authorities and LEPs up and down the UK. At the time of writing the SCR bid is supported by over 200 Businesses and individuals, 10 Chambers of Commerce, and over 20 Local Authorities from across the country. It has cross party support from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire in the House of Commons. On behalf of our respective LEPs we would like to add our voice of support and would strongly recommend that Government supports the SCR bid. Yours Lord Haskins, Hull and Humber LEP Chair Roger Marsh, Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership Chair Paul Woolston, North East LEP Chair James Newman, Sheffield City Region LEP Chair Sandy Anderson, Tees Valley Unlimited Chair Barry Dodd CBE, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership Chair