East Midlands enterprising scheme short listed for finals at European Awards

The Welland Sub-regional Strategic Partnership (SSP), a finalist in the DTIís Enterprising Britain 2006 competition, has been short listed by the European Commission for a European Enterprise Award.

The European Enterprise Awards are modelled on the highly successful Enterprising Britain competition and recognise outstanding initiatives that support entrepreneurship at a regional level and promote the role enterprise plays in society.

Based in the rural East Midlands, The Welland SSP was one of over 50 entrants across Europe for the nomination and will now go forward to the final stage in Brussels in December. The initiatives in The Welland area proved so successful they turned 1,000 miles of rural countryside into a strong, economically viable and sustainable area.

Member of the European Enterprise Awards Jury, Stan Crawford, Managing Director of Sherwood Energy Village and winner of Enterprising Britain 2005, was delighted with their short listing, commenting:

ìThe Welland SSP has achieved transformational results in the community and their ability to encourage enterprise and attract investment is to be commended. They have really looked at the area, the environment and the landscape, and have created new opportunities for it whilst ensuring that the environment is protected for the next generation to work with and live on. The sustainable community that it has successfully developed has great transferability and should encourage others across Europe to promote regional entrepreneurship.î

The Welland SSP was established in 2002 by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) with the support of five local authorities (South Kesteven, Rutland, East Northamptonshire, Harborough and Melton) to give secure economic regeneration in an area which had historically been overlooked.

Alison Bingham, Enterprise Development Manager at emda who leads the Enterprising Britain campaign in the East Midlands said:

ìWe are absolutely delighted that the region has achieved national recognition and we are very excited at the prospect of showcasing The Welland in Europe. The scheme in The Welland is a really strong example of an enterprising community initiative, and we have every chance of winning in Europe. It just goes to prove that the East Midlands is full of people with enterprising ideas and our aim is to nurture and encourage these skills to ensure we have a flourishing region by 2020.î

The Welland SSP has helped boost the regional economy by actively encouraging enterprise through locally based enterprise centres, business incubation centres, and community and social programmes. All these initiatives offer pro-active support for start-up and growing businesses in The Welland and have been a great success to date.

In addition, The Welland SSP has also managed to establish a sustainable and enterprising economy by encouraging tourism. For example, it supported the creation of íHidden Englandí, a consortium of country houses and castles, which has successfully managed to increase tourist spend and retention. It has also developed a unique hub-and-spoke approach to stimulate work in market towns which has in turn enabled villages to turn into enterprising communities.

Members from The Welland SSP will now travel to Brussels for the Award ceremony, where they will compete against the thirteen other short listed projects in the final for the Grand Jury Prize

For further information about the European Enterprise Awards, visit http://www.european-enterprise-awards.org/

For further information about the Enterprising Britain competition, visit www.sbs.gov.uk/enterprisingbritain