South: Solent LEP steering group plots course for marine funding

A new group tasked with boosting the region’s marine and maritime industries has announced two funds worth nearly £4 million at its first meeting.

Solent LEP’s Solent Marine and Maritime Steering Group (SMMSG) announced a £1.5 million fund to help marine employers invest in their current and future workforce at its inaugural meeting.

The Solent Employer Ownership Programme will open this month and allow marine businesses to bid for money to develop proposals to create jobs, raise skills, and drive enterprise and economic growth in the Solent.

Brian Johnson, SMMSG chairman, said: “Technological advances and changes to the occupational structure are driving up skills requirements across the marine and maritime sectors.

“Although we have an excellent skills infrastructure and the building blocks for a world-class workforce, we need to address the fact that 20% of employers are already experiencing recruitment difficulties.”

This latest fund will arm businesses with the resources they need to plug the skills’ gap and ensure they are at the cutting edge of marine knowledge.

The group also announced the re-launch of the Isle of Wight Expansion Fund, which makes a total of £2.46m available to businesses either based on, or moving to, the Isle of Wight.

Previously earmarked exclusively for the marine, maritime, advanced manufacturing and composites engineering sectors, however, the fund has now been made more accessible to Island businesses and is available to companies operating in any sector of the Island economy.

Long established Isle of Wight business, Cheetah Marine, was the first beneficiary from the original funding competition. The Island marine manufacturer was awarded £160,000 to establish a new LEAN manufacturing production line; allowing the company to develop and optimise export markets around the world from the Island through innovative new technology. The award resulted in an additional £640,000 private-sector investment in the project and will lead to the safeguarding of 27 existing and creation of 18 new jobs at the firm.

Several companies on The Business Magazine’s new SME100 list represent success and growth in the marine sector, including Southampton-based Besse & Mill (marine safety equipment), Sunschalk in Chicehster (boatbuilding), Oceanair Marine (marine equipment, also in Chichester), Saacke Combustion Services at Havant (marine energy systems) and Fareham-based Walcon marine (marina construction).

As well as Brian Johnson, UK business development director at BAE Systems Naval Ships, being named as group chairman, further SMMSG appointments are:

•       Russell Kew, Solent LEP director and chairman at Wightlink;

•       Jason Hayman, managing director at Sustainable Marine Energy;

•       Daniel Hook, managing director at ASV;

•       Clive Johnson, managing director at Magma Structures;

•       Tim Newell, boatyard manager at Endeavour Quay;

•       Nick Ridehalgh, director at ABP Southampton;

•       Howard Pridding, chief executive, British Marine Federation;

•       Donna Jones, leader of Portsmouth City Council, and

•       Christopher Uniacke, international trade sector marine specialist, UK Trade and Investment.

Johnson concluded: “The Group is a very positive step that’s been taken to boost the future of the marine and maritime industries across the Solent. All members are passionate about working towards the growth of the sector.”