The award-winning Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme is on track to deliver huge benefits to local businesses, communities and people as the £186m fund celebrates making more than 900 investments across Cornwall and Scilly.
The Programme is forecast to create more than 1,700 jobs, support over 7,600 businesses and deliver more than 30,000 training opportunities for local residents. It is also creating or improving natural areas the same size as around 60 football pitches and contributing to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the electricity needs of more than half a million homes.
Funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund and managed by Cornwall Council, the four-year Good Growth Programme was launched in 2022 and has redefined how public investment can be used to create Good Growth for Cornwall and Scilly, whilst maintaining a clear focus on industry and business-driven investment for growth, supporting skills and regeneration and delivering huge improvements to locally-driven community facilities.
It has put the Good Growth principles of fairness, sustainability and inclusion at the heart of every funded project - an approach that saw it named Most Innovative Project of the Year at the recent national Institute of Economic Development Awards. In July, the Good Growth Programme was also recognised nationally for its commitment to fair pay by requiring grant applicants to commit to paying the Real Living Wage, scooping the Local Champions award (alongside Truro Foodbank) at the Living Wage Foundation Champion Awards.
All Good Growth investments have prioritised driving local economic growth by investing in community and place, supporting local businesses and people and skills. By March 2031, it expects to have achieved the following:
- £83 million of additional funding (private and public) secured to match fund Good Growth investment
- 1,765 new jobs created, with a further 714 jobs safeguarded
- 1,190 businesses receiving financial support including grants and direct investment
- 6,484 businesses and organisations receiving guidance, support and training in areas such as financial management, growth planning and reducing environmental impact
- More than 30,000 skills and training opportunities delivered for local residents
- More than 283,511 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions saved as a result of support, equivalent to the CO2 produced by powering 593,000 average UK homes with electricity
- 738 enterprises adopting new or improved products and services including pharmaceutical products to treat acne and dry skin, microchips, unmanned aerial vehicles, floating scaffold pontoons, speciality cold brew coffee and low environmental impact coffee capsules
- 415,878 m2 (equivalent to around 60 football pitches) of natural space created or improved
- 142 community hubs refurbished including village halls, community centres and charity-owned venues
Cllr Tim Dwelly, Cornwall Council's Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Investment, said: “Our award-winning Good Growth programme has proved that when public investment is aimed at the right places and decisions are made locally, it can really boost our economy, our communities and our environment.
"We want to build on that track record and look forward to working with Government on a devolved local growth agenda that invests in businesses in Cornwall that are delivering against national growth priorities.”
Good Growth Programme highlights
Community and place: Helston Gateway is a flagship Good Growth project in West Cornwall which has seen an old 1980s supermarket totally transformed into a vital community asset for the town. The building, derelict since 2017, now features a brand new GP practice and health centre on the top floor which is home to five GPs, while the lower floor has been transformed into a youth facility with a multi-use performance and event space, recording studio and creative space. Facilities also include a new café and bouldering centre which includes world-class app-controlled climbing. The project has been driven and managed by the South Kerrier Alliance CIC (Community Interest Company), which secured almost £3m of Good Growth funding and a further £500,000 from Cornwall Council’s Town Centre Revitalisation Fund.
Supporting local businesses: The Good Growth Programme has responded to private sector growth opportunities though targeted investment in commercial projects, helping to leverage greater investment across Cornwall. A prime example of this is South Crofty tin mining project where owner Cornish Metals has successfully raised £57.4m in funding, including a £28.6m strategic investment by the government’s National Wealth Fund and £4.19m from the Good Growth Programme on the site at Pool. South Crofty was Cornwall’s last working tin mine before it closed in 1998 after four centuries of operation. Cornish Metals’ ambition is to reopen the mine and develop a secure, long-term domestic source of tin. It says the reopened mine could create up to 320 permanent, high-skilled and well-paid jobs and an estimated 1,000 indirect jobs. It means the Good Growth programme will have committed more than £10m developing Cornwall’s critical minerals infrastructure.
Good Growth investment is also helping Cornish businesses to bring new products to market, grow and create jobs. This includes a project to help award-winning family-owned St Ewe Free Range Eggs build a liquid egg processing facility at its site at Grampound Road near Truro. The project is expected to create 15 skilled jobs, support British farming by boosting demand for free-range eggs, improve food safety, and reduce waste. The plan is to use the eggshell byproduct as a soil enhancer for Cornwall’s agri-food industry. The Good Growth programme has invested £3.45m in the project.
The Good Growth Programme has also supported hundreds of small Cornish businesses with investment. Newquay-based Ulu OX received a grant to help grow its circular economy business. It takes ocean-bound plastic waste and transforms it into products to help keep people safe while they explore the sea. The business has been able to process waste plastic to create a new material that can be used to manufacture waterproof dry bags. It now has one tonne of processed plastic material in stock that has been turned into yarn to produce 20 rolls of material, supporting business growth while tackling marine pollution.
People and skills: Investing in people and skills has been a cornerstone of the Good Growth Programme. This includes courses to boost adult literacy and numeracy, targeted support for 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment, or training, and sector-specific training to meet employer demand in growing industries. This includes investment in digital skills through Digital Futures Cornwall and in green skills through The Future is Green.
Almost 8,000 people will have gained a qualification or completed a course by the end of March next year. So far, over 500 people have taken part in green skills courses to help them develop skills needed to pursue careers in green industries such as clean energy. And nearly 1,500 residents will have accessed retraining opportunities to help them pursue a new career.
Green and blue space: Good Growth investment has seen the equivalent of around 60 football pitches of natural space within urban and public areas either created or improved, such as parks, woods, play areas and waterways. Projects have included support for Cornwall Heritage Trust to deliver its mission to preserve and strengthen Cornwall’s heritage sites. Cornwall Wildlife Trust meanwhile has used Good Growth investment to improve flood resilience in the Par catchment, which has some of the highest concentrations of properties at risk of flooding, by creating a ‘wetter landscape’ to ensure it can hold more water. And Cornwall Council’s award-winning Urban Green Shoots project has used Good Growth investment to bring increased biodiversity to public open spaces across Cornwall.
Visit the Good Growth Programme website
ENDS
