Wakefield’s £533m economic boost could hinge on ambitious new skills centre
Skills centre aims to create boost for city’s economy.
Council, education and business leaders in Wakefield are set to formulate plans for a new skills centre aimed at boosting the district’s economy.
A meeting heard talks were due to begin later this year on a business case for the so-called Wakefield Futures Centre.
The creation of an employer-led civic hub in the city was a key recommendation by the Wakefield Futures Commission, which was set up in 2024 after figures revealed the number of people in the district with qualifications above A-level fall well below the national average.
Jamie Appleton, Wakefield Council’s service manager for business growth and skills, told the authority’s regeneration and communities scrutiny committee that putting together a blueprint and determining the costs for the project would involve a “lengthy and detailed process.”
Committee chair David Hunter asked: “When are we likely to see people engaging with the Wakefield Futures Commission, when will it be up and running?”
Mr Appleton said: “A key part of the work we have done is around a scoping exercise to determine exactly what the centre is.
“What’s described in the Wakefield Futures report is an entity that sits in between industry and education provision.
“That is intentionally described as an entity at this stage. It could be a building, it doesn’t ‘t necessarily have to be.
“It could be something different. It could be a collection of partners coming together, not necessarily in a physical building.
“That’s part of the scoping exercise, to look at actually what is going to work.”
The officer said details would be clearer once partnership work had taken place.
He said: “We have got a very successful college within the district and many different providers of skills.
“It’s really about bringing those together.
“At this moment in time I don’t have a definitive answer but that work will give us that more definitive answer.”
According to the commission’s report, Wakefield is England’s largest city without a university and faces “significant challenges in developing and retaining higher-level skills among its residents.”
The document recommended that the new centre focused skills investment in the district’s fastest growing business sectors to address the problem of qualified young people leaving the district to work elsewhere.
The commission also said higher-level skills training should be co-designed with employers and be “short, affordable and flexible” to make it easier for people to obtain better-paid work.
The report also estimated that closing Wakefield’s productivity gap could unlock more that £533m a year for people in the local economy.
Mr Appleton: “Our work at this stage is focused around engagement and cross-service working with children and young people.
“It’s about bringing together schools, young people, business and partners together to make sure we can clearly articulate and support young people within the district to make sure that the opportunity and the pathway is there for young people to see a future in this district in terms of a career.
“We have young people who naturally go through the education system then perhaps go off to university.
“We want to make it a credible choice for young people to stay within the district and work in industries within the district.
“We have very successfully businesses within the district and bringing those closer to young people is a key part of this work.”