GOLDEN TIMES AHEAD FOR GOLDEN VALLEY CYBER PROJECT

By Ian Mean, Director of Business West and vice-chair of GFirst Local

The Golden Valley, to be built on about 200 hectares of land, is the county’s biggest and most exciting industrial project and a real game-changer for Cheltenham Borough Council.

In my view, Cheltenham has been somewhat in the shadow of Gloucester in recent years with the development of the Docks and The Quays.

They had great insight in starting the project by buying land for £37.5 million – a huge investment for a medium-sized district council.

Since then, money has flowed in from government, Gloucestershire County Council and GFirst Local Enterprise Council among others.

“It is the biggest job that Cheltenham Borough Council has ever taken,” says Councillor Mike Collins, the Cabinet member for Cyber, Regeneration and Commercial Income.

He describes himself a “a Cheltenham boy” and is a former aerospace engineer.

I was impressed by his enthusiasm and knowledge for the project, and how he hopes it will help retain young people in Cheltenham and the county.

“I am incredibly proud to have been a Dowty apprentice,” he tells me “and the retention of our young people is so very important. We can also re-train some of our older people too.”

The project aims to create 12,000 jobs and its own garden living community.

“It is important to point out that the 12,000 jobs we are talking about are new jobs,” says Mike. “We are not going to be renting out space to GCHQ so they can move a thousand of their people over.

“There will be new jobs in start-ups and innovation. We are talking about people re-training and retention of our schoolleavers.

“A lot of our young people grow up in Cheltenham, but they cannot afford to live here.”

And to achieve that, some 3,700 homes will be built on the site with Cheltenham Borough Council building 1,500 of those with 35 per cent of them affordable.

“We want young people to move to Cheltenham. Ideally, some of the people who live in those homes will also work on the site,” said Councillor Collins.

“This isn’t just about posh homes for people at the top end of the innovation world,” added Paul Miniss, a former managing director of the South West division of Bellway Homes who is now Cheltenham council’s Director for Major Development and Regeneration.

He is obviously a top operator and needs to be as this is a huge challenge and carries a great deal of expectation.

Timelines for the development are not set in stone, but it is hoped there will be planning permission next spring with the building of the Innovation Centre of the project starting around the winter of 2025-26.

The Golden Valley development is currently Gloucestershire’s biggest business gamechanger and will be a key part of the government’s National Cyber Strategy and Levelling Up Plans.