Dean Piper, Head of NWedR is moving on

Head of NWedR Dean Piper is leaving the North Worcestershire Economic & Regeneration Development service to take up the post of Head of Economic Prosperity at Cannock Chase District Council - his home district.

Dean has headed up the NWedR team for more than 4 years and said:

“Whilst I am sad to be leaving North Worcestershire, I am very proud of what we have achieved as a team. I believe we punch above our weight and are now well recognised as a proactive and engaged shared service that is making a demonstrable difference across North Worcestershire.

Over the last 4 years we have seen some excellent progress including supporting businesses at grass roots level with advice, support and routes to grant-funding. We have actively engaged with businesses by developing our Ambassadors initiative, working with our Economic Theme Groups, running successful events, establishing our social media connections and partnering with local networking organisations.

We have seen regeneration projects come to life such as the Kidderminster and Bromsgrove town centre public realm. We now have exciting plans in place to regenerate Redditch town centre and the Lion Fields scheme in Kidderminster will create an exciting new mixed use development.  Planning consent is now in place for the game-changer site know as Redditch Gateway which will see £100 million of investment and the creation of at least 2,500 jobs into the area to the east of Redditch.

We have also seen new multi million pound inward investments in North Worcestershire from major businesses, with the development of the new Specsavers factory and arrival of Superform and Liberty Engineering in Kidderminster which are notable achievements.

The establishment of the North Worcestershire Employment and Skills Board has developed apace and is now surging forward by an enthusiastic business led group.   We have also attracted £1.5m of LEP funding to support an engineering academy in Redditch.

Now more than ever, we are well positioned as the “natural environment for business.”

“These are just a few examples of the work currently in progress by the NWedR team.  I believe that the NWedR service is in a good place and the future of North Worcestershire in terms of economic development is very positive with more than £350 million of inward investment coming our way over the next few years.”

Mike Parker, Corporate Director: Economic Prosperity and Place for Wyre Forest District council said:

“We will be very sorry to see Dean leave, he’s really added something extra to the NWEDR team and has made considerable strides in taking forward the strategies and project plans across all three authorities with widespread success. However we congratulate him on his appointment and wish him well in the next stage of his career with Cannock Chase, an authority much nearer to his home! We will be moving ahead with the recruitment for Dean’s successor in the next few weeks.”

Dean concludes:

“I would like to say a big thanks to the excellent NWedR team and our partners for all the support and hard work over the last 4 years and I wish you every success for the future.  I am excited about my next challenge in Cannock Chase, but will watch North Worcestershire’s progress with great interest.”