An end to the brain drain along the coast could be just months away following the ground-breaking ceremony for the new £14 million Town Deal supported Skegness TEC College.
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00:00 The official groundbreaking ceremony has taken place for the new £14 million
00:05 pound town deal supported Skegness Tech College.
00:10 Now that's a big spade it must be representing the big project that's on
00:19 this site can you tell us about it? So we're developing a brand new college for
00:25 Skegness to deliver some absolutely fantastic training and education opportunities to the learners of Skegness and the surrounding areas.
00:33 It's something that's been in the planning for a number of years now and it's been supported by the Towns Fund through the Connecting Coast Board with a £14 million
00:43 pound grant towards it and some of the Tech Partnership's own funds. We'll have lots of different curriculum being delivered here covering vocational areas including
00:56 construction, engineering, beauty, motor vehicle, health and social care so there'll be lots of variety of students to actually select what course they want to do from.
01:09 Most importantly it's to make sure that we're providing the supply chain for the local employers and we're getting the right education and training for all age groups across the area.
01:26 Because this is jobs for the future isn't it we've just heard about all the hundreds of jobs that's coming with the new offshore wind farms.
01:35 It will give local young people those skills that they need because I think up until now it's been a case of young people going to university and then getting out because they don't think any opportunities are here for them.
01:54 Do you think that will change? Yes I do I think this is a real game changer I think it's the largest of the Town Fund projects for Skegness.
02:02 I think it's absolutely the right way to spend that grant to deliver on the futures for those young learners and to make sure that we can keep some of those learners in the town and that we can develop that entrepreneurship as part of the programmes as well.
02:17 They've got a great campus that they will see as a campus that they want to not just learn on but to be a part of and to see as their home.
02:28 I think it will be fantastic. Clearly a lot is going on on this site but do you have any idea when you're hoping to be finished?
02:35 Yes so with a fair wind and with good weather we would be hoping to open the doors in September 2025.
02:45 We'll finish hopefully a little bit earlier than that and give ourselves a bit of fit out time.
02:49 September 2025.
02:54 Steve it's good to come down here and see things really happening we seem to have been talking about this for a long time. Are you excited?
03:03 Very very excited yeah I drive past this site twice a day and it's amazing how quickly things are taking shape.
03:09 This will be a real game changer for Skegness.
03:11 You know the number of our young people who if they want some further education they have to get on a bus for an hour in either direction.
03:18 Now they can stay local they can learn everything they need to do here and it could be the basis for fantastic careers in this town and further in this area around up and down the coast.
03:28 You know there's so much talent here and we do lose it because people have to travel away.
03:34 Now they'll be able to deliver their training locally. It's got to be great for young people.
03:38 It's got to be great for businesses as well knowing there'll be a non-stop stream of talented people who can do the jobs that we desperately need doing on the coast.
03:47 The biggest of the town deal projects it must be exciting for you to come down and see how they're getting on.
03:56 It is it's not only the biggest in Skegness it's actually the biggest in Lincolnshire.
04:00 I'd see it actually coming out of the ground now and I think people will actually believe it's happening and I think it's going to be a real game changer for the town.
04:08 I mean a lot has been happening in the town hasn't it we've seen the shop front improvements begin
04:17 It is a good time for Skegness isn't it?
04:20 I hope so yeah I mean the railway station work's going on. Work will start on the embassy in the middle of the summer.
04:26 As you say the high street's getting done now the tower gardens are now open and look like they should do and it's a great place to visit.
04:33 And this project coming to fruition is a real chance for young people to know that we're investing in them investing in their skills growth and education.
04:42 So yeah I'm very excited to see this project come to fruition.
04:47 Well this is a key part of what the levelling up funding will do for Skegness.
04:51 We've all seen the huge improvements to the foreshore for instance and that's about investing in the stuff in Skegness.
04:59 This is about investing in the people and it's the people that will grow the economy.
05:03 It's the people that will provide the jobs and businesses of the future and being able to train people at the site that will be here in not that many months is a really important part of that story.
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