Plans to reopen Scarborough's Construction Skills Village have received backing for up to £2m, subject to a full business case, as part of a £5m skills package for York and North Yorkshire.
The proposals for Scarborough's Skills Village received approval from mayor David Skaith and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority cabinet members at a meeting on Friday.
Funding Breakdown and New Training Facilities
Up to £2m has been greenlit for the reopening of Scarborough's Construction Skills Village, pending a full business case, while £1m will be allocated towards establishing a new construction training facility directly linked to York Central as development progresses. Both the Scarborough and York training centres will provide technical education training and apprenticeships, alongside adult retraining and upskilling opportunities.
An additional £2m will enable training providers to upgrade their facilities and acquire specialist equipment supporting growth sectors, including clean energy, life sciences, rail innovation and sustainable agriculture.
Mayor and Councillors Back the Plans
Mr Skaith said: "We're going to build 60,000 new homes so we're going to need a lot of brickies, sparkies, joiners, and more. That's why we're creating more opportunities for young people and those wanting to reskill to get into the building trades."
"Two new construction skills villages are going to create thousands of highly talented tradies to build the homes our county urgently needs."
Proposals to revive the skills village garnered overwhelming support from coastal councillors at a meeting held in Whitby on Wednesday. Conservative councillor Derek Bastiman, representing Scalby and the Coast, said: "The Construction Skills Village is very close to me and the others in this room."
"I fully supported that from day one in Scarborough. The opportunities with the Construction Skills Village, when we visited it, were tremendous."
"There were children who had been excluded from local schools, and by and large, they were doing a good job of it there."
Broader Skills and Growth Strategy
The funding will build upon Mr Skaith's Cradle to Career initiative, a long-term vision to ensure every child and young person has the chance to flourish from birth, through education and into employment.
North Yorkshire Council's leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: "We want to ensure all our communities have the very best opportunities with skills and training available to help them pursue the careers that they want to. This important capital investment in Scarborough will help to deliver fit-for-purpose facilities to provide those opportunities along the coast and drive forward the economy both locally and across the region."
"The additional £2m in funding for skills providers will target training across sectors that show huge potential for growth, including clean energy, life sciences, rail innovation and sustainable agriculture."
Financed via York and North Yorkshire's Local Growth Fund, the proposals are intended to support growth objectives in Scarborough and York, which have been designated as Mayoral Development Zones (MDZs).
MDZs represent a crucial mechanism available to Mayors through devolution to identify areas as a development priority. They enable the Mayor to spearhead efforts in uniting developers, landowners and the local authority to draw in private sector investment and coordinate public sector funding.
An initial £10m MDZ Regeneration Fund has been established to launch the subsequent phases of development and to release additional government and private investment to speed up delivery.
