DESPITE being one of the largest counties in England, Cumbria is often overlooked when it comes to investment from central government.

This is the opinion of Mark Telford, the managing director of Forth Engineering which operates across the globe, who says businesses in the county have been largely ignored in the Government’s ‘levelling up’ promise.

However, Mark said the company and fellow engineering and manufacturing firms on the doorstep had the potential to further change the face of industry with their pioneering services.

He said: “When people think of Cumbria, they instantly think of the county as one big holiday destination due to the popularity of the Lake District.

 

READ MORE: Industrial Solutions Hub gets backing from Copeland Council

 

“But there is much more to the area than just hospitality and there is a lot of world class and amazing work carried out by engineering and manufacturing companies here.

“There is engineering excellence in abundance in this very county, and we have proved time and again we can produce work which has a positive impact on industry across the globe. With more investment from the Government, we could do this on a much larger scale.

“This in turn would lead to the creation of more jobs and a huge boost to the economy, so it would be a very easy win for the Government, in my opinion.”

Research conducted by Make UK revealed that almost a third of manufacturers in the UK didn’t believe the Government’s plan to ‘level up’ was being carried out as they had yet to see any tangible benefit to their business.

According to Make UK, the absence of levelling up was particularly felt by companies based in the Northwest.

But there is an initiative in Cumbria, launched last month, which aims to change that.

Led by Copeland Borough Council with the support of key stakeholders including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield Ltd, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and private sector supply chain partners, Industrial Solutions Hub (iSH) will create more than 700 jobs.

 

READ MORE: Cleator Moor to benefit from 700 jobs with iSH initiative

 

iSH will bring new skills and training opportunities to Cleator Moor, and to West Cumbria more generally, by bringing entrepreneurs, businesses and industry together to design, develop and manufacture innovative solutions.