Recently, I was pleased to welcome the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, Robert Jenrick, to the Forest of Dean.
I showed him round KW Bell in Cinderford, a firm leading the way in the house-building sector and operating in the heart of the Forest of Dean for over 50 years, who have recently benefitted from just under £2 million of Government support as part of the Getting Building Fund.
This will help to fund the building of a Construction Skills Accelerator Centre (CSAC) in Cinderford, providing an industry-leading training facility based in the heart of the Forest of Dean, having been thoughtfully designed to link the construction industry with education by providing a learning environment that is digitally advanced, safe, interactive and relevant.
I have pressed Ministers about funding such schemes and I am very pleased that they have listened to my calls for increased funding for innovative and truly shovel-ready projects in the Forest of Dean.
As you can see, I couldn’t resist having a sit in one of their diggers!
I am pictured with three generations of the firm’s leadership (founder Keith Bell; Nicola Bird, Director of K W Bell and MD of the CSAC and Peter Bell, MD of K W Bell) along with Sarah Danson, Director of Strategic Growth at the GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership, who are topping up the project with several hundred thousand pounds in funding.