Comment: City brimming with confidence

Jun 26 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

TODAY’S news that 1,500 skilled jobs are being created in Liverpool by Enterprise PLC is a real confidence boost for the city.

At a time when the economic outlook is somewhat bleak, and when companies across the UK are battening down the hatches, it sends out a message that Liverpool is worth investing in.

Enterprise PLC is setting up a new office and training centre at a purpose-built premises in Speke. The 1,500 jobs created there will be in addition to those already in existence at its Leyland headquarters – so it is not simply a case of the same jobs simply moving around the country.

And, as the new facility will offer a wide range of skills training for people – including those who want to work in the public sector and utilities industries – it will provide a very real benefit for the whole region.

It also now plans to forge close links with the planned Garston Business Academy, which is part of the council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Of course, Enterprise is already a familiar name in the region. The company runs a business support centre at the Matchworks site, in Garston, and employs around 300 people on its contracts with the city council, Defence Estates, Whitbread PLC and back office support functions.

Council leader Warren Bradley says the Enterprise decision indicates the growing business confidence evident across the city. Certainly, the good public relations Liverpool is currently enjoying thanks to Capital of Culture and the opening of Liverpool One’s retail and leisure development cannot be underestimated. Within days, the crowds surging into Liverpool One – and spilling over to Albert Dock – had created a financial stir which exceeded the early hopes of John Lewis and Debenhams for their flagship new stores.

Liverpool is a city which has confidence in the future; this latest development only underlines its commitment to regeneration.