£30m Dudley campus at the heart of Simon's West Midlands Mayor campaign
Labour's candidate for West Midlands Mayor has made a £30 million state-of-the-art engineering and manufacturing centre in Dudley one of his key manifesto pledges.
University Centre Dudley (UCD) will provide hi-tech facilities for advanced level skills training in technology, bosses at Dudley College have said.
Sion Simon, who is bidding to become the region's first Metro Mayor, said the new site would make Dudley 'a national leader of skills' in areas including vehicle propulsion, rail systems and digital engineering.
"The Black Country lit the spark that fired the Industrial Revolution, changing not just the West Midlands or even Britain, but the whole of the world," added Mr Simon, who launched his mayoral manifesto at Dudley College yesterday.
"That's why we will take back control of skills budgets and work with Dudley College to deliver more apprenticeships, higher and technical apprenticeships and contribute to a £30m university centre."
The proposed site for the UCD is on Tipton Road, next to Warwick Manufacturing Group's (WMG's) new Very Light Rail Innovation Centre.
The scheme is part of a 10-point plan the West Midlands MEP says will focus on jobs and manufacturing as part of plans to restore pride in the region.
He has pledged to create 8,000 apprenticeships along with a range of other proposals, including a living wage of £8.45 an hour, capping bus and tram fares at £4.40 a day, and a £500m fund for clearing derelict sites for new businesses and housing.
Mr Simon also wants to launch a drugs and crime taskforce and has proposed lobbying for the M6 Toll Road to be nationalised or made free to ease congestion.
He will face five rivals in the mayoral election on May 4. The position will head the West Midlands Combined Authority and have control over an £8 billion investment fund to plough into transport, housing and job creation projects.
