1 minute read
Strand 2: Work & Opportunity
Big Fat Goal
Offer skills-for-life and opportunities for everyone in the town who wants to grow.
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Priorities
1. Transport timetables; routes; connections
2. Enterprise culture of enterprise; de-risking/ supporting enterprise
3. Employment opportunities; courses; apprenticeships; volunteering
Fit With Borderlands 4 Themes
Enabling infrastructure
Improving places
Supporting business, innovation and skills
Encouraging green growth
The population of Stranraer has fallen. We have fewer people of working age and more retired people. This has a knock-on effect in the local economy with lower spending in local shops and commercial retailers less inclined to want to locate here. This in turn reduces work opportunities.
Transport links are patchy. Few can use public transport to get to work or study. With the HQs of the Council and NHS in Dumfries, senior, higher paid roles are based there. This takes higher paid jobs out of Stranraer which has a ripple effect in the economy. Scottish Government’s Strategic Transport Projects Review plans to upgrade the A77 and A75. Helpful for the many locals who have to drive this road regularly for work, meetings and medical appointments (though we’d rather they had a rail option or even better, keep life local.)
We want local talent to stay in the town and we want to attract fire-starters and catalysers to help us thrive. The College has a limited curriculum: many leave to grow and never return. For a student finishing their HNC in Stranraer, their next step is to jump on the 6am bus to Dumfries to join the HND course, returning around 9pm each day if they want to live in Stranraer. We want to be able to attract engineers and professionals to jobs and attract more high value manufacturing jobs. To attract inward investment and relocation, we need to start by tackling a train station and pier that looks abandoned, develop a road network that’s fit for purpose and develop our offer - like an arts centre - that will attract new residents.
THE ENTERPRISE PEOPLE WITHDREW BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES
WHEN I LEAVE SCHOOL I’LL LEAVE THE TOWN… MAYBE RETIRE HERE
YOU NEED EXPERIENCE TO GET A JOB ... YOU NEED TO BE IN WORK TO GET AN APPRENTICESHIP
THE ENTERPRISE COMPANY SHOULD INCENTIVISE COMPANIES TO SITE HERE
I GOT A STUDENT PLACEMENT - NOW I HAVE A JOB
