New Brownhills training centre 'will boost' other high street firms
Moves to open a new training centre in Brownhills will boost other businesses as it will bring more people to the high street, applicants have said.
Nova Training is looking to transform a former solicitors' office into the centre for 65 students, under new plans submitted to Walsall Council.
The town has been hit with the revelation Barclays is to shut next month and figures released earlier this year showed the number of vacant units had risen.
Nova provides youth and adult training programmes for young people, many of which are aged between 16 and 18, and is currently based on the Maybrook Industrial Estate.
They are now looking to relocate to the main High Street which will safeguard 10 jobs. The building will be modified and extended as part of the proposals lodged with council planners.
Martyn Clews, agent for the plans for Nova, said there will be benefits for the heart of Brownhills. In the application he said: "Nova Training has identified this building in the High Street, Brownhills, as an ideal position to locate its training centre for the area.
"This facility is important to both the students and the sustainability of the existing High Street. The existing retail units will benefit from the influx of students in the area and will be considered as a sustainable use of an existing vacant unit."
He added: "If Nova cannot move into this proposed facility, the applicant will have to leave the area. Nova currently employ 10 staff at their existing facility and these jobs would be lost as there is no other provider within the vicinity.
"Nova provides services to young people who have left school and have not been successful in their education."
It comes as the Barclays Bank is due to close on October 24.
Most recent statistics for the number of vacant units in Brownhills showed there were 29 units not in use, 18.2 per cent, compared to 14.5 per cent in 2013.
Natwest in Bloxwich recently shut and council chiefs have insisted high streets remain an attractive proposition for businesses.
Helen Kindon, team leader for town and district centre management at the council, said work was already done to find businesses before units became available.
"Each centre benefits from a comprehensive database of intelligence collected by officers which can be used to proactively target new users to units even before they become vacant," she said.
