SMEs in north east Derbyshire looking to grow are invited to a series of free drop-in support surgeries in the New Year.

Organised by Mitchells Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, in collaboration with Sheffield City Region Growth Hub, the sessions are designed to help local businesses of all sizes and across all sectors, understand the support on offer from the Growth Hub.

Working alongside a range of private and public sector partners, the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub has access to over 60 streams of business support, from trade and export to skills, innovation, access to finance and specialist support, as well as guide businesses through the services most relevant to them.

Both Mitchells and Sheffield City Region Growth Hub have a long history of helping businesses achieve their goals and realise their potential. To date, Sheffield City Region Growth Hub has worked with more than 4,000 businesses, while Mitchells has assisted businesses access over £6.2m in grants helping create and safeguard over 660 jobs between 2013 and 2017 across the East Midlands.

There are three free to attend sessions being held on Wednesday 31 January, Wednesday 28 February and Wednesday 28 March 2018. All the sessions are being held at Mitchells’ offices on Saltergate in Chesterfield. To book a slot simply email andrewmcdaid@mitchellsaccountants.co.uk quoting a requested time slot.

Multi-disciplined law firm Banner Jones has expanded its Family Law division with the appointment of two Family Law specialists, Kelly Parks and Cathryn Young, bringing 23 years of experience to the team.

Kelly Parks joins the Chesterfield-based Banner Jones team following five years at Stowe Family Law, the UK’s largest specialist Family Law firm. Graduating from Nottingham Law School, Kelly brings with her 15-years of experience in Family Law.

Also joining the multi-service practice’ Mansfield-based Family Law team, Cathryn Young brings 8-years of specific Family Law experience to the team.

The new appointments follow recent international recognition for Banner Jones as part of this year’s Legal 500 – the most comprehensive worldwide coverage on recommended law firms broken down by area of specialism – in which the East Midlands based Family Law and Personal Injury teams ranked for the fifth consecutive year.

Director and Head of Family Law, Toby Netting, said that the appointments will ‘further strengthen’ Banner Jones’ award winning Family Law team, as well as ensure that the firm is well placed to meet growing demand from both private and public law work, such as issues relating to divorce proceedings, prenuptial agreements, cohabitation matters and children-related cases.

He said:-

“Kelly and Cathyrn are both welcome additions to our established family team bringing with them considerable expertise and experience, and further bolstering our ability to meet increased demand.”

Kelly commented:-

“With increasing scope to be involved in regional, national and international cases, I am delighted to be joining the Family Law team at Banner Jones during a period of growth and expansion.”

Cathryn commented:-

“This is a very exciting opportunity to join an award winning, ambitious law firm with a long-established reputation for excellence.”

The D2 Energy Efficiency (D2EE) project, a partnership run by the University of Derby, Derby City and Derbyshire County Councils, has been helping small and medium sized businesses in Chesterfield and across Derbyshire to reduce their energy use.

The D2EE project recently awarded £11,000 of funding to Tidyco Ltd helping reduce its carbon emissions by six tonnes per year. The hydraulic and pneumatic components manufacturer applied for the investment to part-fund the costs of installing a new energy efficient LED lighting system at its premises in Derby. The system uses 60 per cent less energy and will save the company £1,740 a year on electricity.

The D2EE project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide support and grant funding to help small and medium sized businesses in Derby and Derbyshire to reduce their energy use. In addition to funding, the Low Carbon Business Network, hosted by University of Derby Management School, offers assistance in a wide variety of areas, including green funding, public tendering and carbon footprinting.

Through its Green Accreditation, the network also offers support to SMEs to achieve an accreditation for their product, process or service.

Tidyco applied for funding after it identified an opportunity to make significant cost and energy savings by upgrading the lighting in its premises.

Philip Mason, Production Director at Tidyco, said: “We have worked with the D2 Energy Efficiency team to improve our lighting and save on electrical costs while helping to also reduce our carbon footprint. The whole process from application to the completion of the project was quick and easy.”

The company made an ongoing commitment to becoming a low-carbon business by reducing its energy consumption and carbon emissions. It has already invested in a solar photovoltaic (PV) system to meet its electricity demand from renewable solar energy.

As a result of the funding, the company’s whole site now has LED lights controlled by daylight and movement sensors, and has significantly reduced its carbon emissions.

Councillor Martin Rawson, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy at Derby City Council said:-

“The D2EE project is providing a really valuable service promoting the win-win of reducing businesses’ carbon emissions and saving them money.”

As part of the Low Carbon Business Network, the University recently launched its Green Growth Accelerator Programme, a two-part workshop which aims to help businesses establish how they currently operate within the low carbon economy and identify opportunities to grow their business.

Dr Fred Paterson, Low Carbon Business Network Project Lead at the University of Derby,  added:-

“The Low Carbon Business Network has been working with SMEs in the D2N2 region since November 2016. Over the past year, the Network has worked with LED manufacturers, community interest companies, renewable energy installers and energy management companies, and now our Green Growth Accelerator is proving to be particularly popular with businesses.”

For more information on D2EE grant funding click here.

Ten sites totalling more than 22 hectares of land are set to be available for development or sale in Chesterfield over the next 18 months alongside a further eighty-five sites totalling almost 190 hectares of land in the Sheffield City Region.

They include Eyewitness Works, the historic Grade ll listed former cutlery factory in Sheffield; a cemetery lodge in Chesterfield; the Earth Centre in Doncaster; redundant offices; and an industrial estate.

The SCR’s latest Land Development and Disposal Plan (SCR LDDP) covering Quarter 3 (2017/18) updates the list of what is available from the nine local authorities in the region. The 85 sites can all be used for a mix of residential and commercial development or wider investment activity.

This City Region level LDDP, the first of its kind in the country, was created after requests from developers to provide transparency around public sector land opportunities.

To download a spreadsheet with further details click here:  http://bit.ly/2tPOzCA

Further information on the sites included in the LDDP can be obtained by clicking on the appropriate link (in the Local Authority column) or by making contact with the identified key contact.

The SCR LDDP has been developed by the SCR Joint Assets Board which has a key focus on speeding up the sale of surplus public sector assets to maximise opportunities for housing and economic growth, and to make the most efficient use of the public sector estate.

Over the coming months, the SCR LDDP will be developed in order to include all surplus public sector land across the SCR, including opportunities from across a range of local and national government departments, as well as health partners.

Chesterfield is a place to do business. That was the message at the town’s first ever Investment Summit (30 November) which saw more than 200 people gather from throughout the East Midlands and Yorkshire at Casa Hotel to learn about the investment potential of the area.

Speaking at the Summit, Huw Bowen, the Chief Executive of Chesterfield Borough Council revealed that 475 new start-up businesses were set up in 2016, an increase of more than 70% compared to business start-ups in 2012. This, he said, had actively contributed to a 28% increase in the town’s productivity in five years, outperforming South Yorkshire, East Midlands and England.

The increase in start-ups now brings the number of businesses operating in Chesterfield to over 3,000 with more set to come on board as plans for the town’s HS2 stop get underway.

Keynote speaker Richard Brown CBE, HS2 Board Member and a non-executive member of the Department for Transport Board, urged the conference not to believe media reports that HS2 would not happen. “HS2 is happening. Work has already started on Phase 1,” he said. However, he urged the room to “keep up the pressure for HS2” as funding for Phase 2B, which incorporates Chesterfield, has not yet been secured.

Previously on the board of Eurostar, Mr Brown said that there was the opportunity for HS2 to transform Chesterfield’s fortunes in the same way Eurostar had done for the Lille in France.  The city, which is in the north of France, was known for its industrial background and underwent some difficult years prior to having a Eurostar station. Now Lille is known throughout France for its handsome city centre and its very active cultural life and is ranked as one of the major metropolitan areas of Europe.

Richard Brown added:-

“HS2 will make the range of job opportunities to people living in Chesterfield hugely wider and likewise for employers. Planning ahead is critical to realise the benefits.” He urged the room to: “Seize the opportunity and use it as a lever to transform the area economically and socially.”

The first HS2 train will arrive in Chesterfield in 2033. Ahead of this, Chesterfield Borough Council has outline plans to improve the approach to the railway station and better connect it to the town centre, creating easy access to shopping, bars and restaurants, as well as improving public transport links locally and to the Peak District. The development would link to the Chesterfield Waterside development and build on the momentum of that project.

Huw Bowen added:-

“Chesterfield’s green lungs have overtaken the town’s mining heritage which is making it an attractive 21^st century investment prospect to investors.”

The free to attend breakfast conference was organised by Destination Chesterfield, Derbyshire Economic Partnership and Marketing Derby – joint partners in the EU funded ‘Invest in D2N2’ project with a focus on promoting Derbyshire both nationally and globally as the place to invest for growth and quality of life.

Peter Swallow, Chair of Destination Chesterfield and Derbyshire Economic Partnership Board Member, said:-

“The £1 billion of regeneration currently taking place in Chesterfield right now is a great example of public and private sector working together. This has created a Blueprint for partnership working ahead of HS2, which will ensure residents, businesses and visitors fully benefit from the all opportunities that will arise in Chesterfield and the surrounding areas over the next 17 years and beyond.”

John Forkin, Managing Director of Marketing Derby, added:-

“We were delighted to be a part of this fantastic initiative, which shows the strong collaboration across Derby and Derbyshire. It was great to see the development opportunities coming down the line in Chesterfield and Derbyshire.”