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effective in coordinating supply chains for both major local firms,
and with SMEs. Rimmer singled out EDF as being a thoughtful,
long-term planning partner. Senior staff proactively come and
discuss matters with the college; having both local and national
concerns. Nationally, they are competing for skills with other
major infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Heathrow. Locally,
they have skills planning strategies, such as sending employees
to Hinckley Point with a view to long-term skills acquisition.
Both college and employers are part of a structured, forwardplanning policy
whereby they can discuss a skills pipeline for the
next few years. He feels that the off-shore industry is, regrettably,
less organised and is insufficiently focused on the development
of competencies in the local area. However, an Off-shore Wind
Centre has now been developed to support the industry. Rimmer,
who is relatively new in post, is hopeful that technical education
can begin to establish its rightful place in regional economic
planning.
Grimsby Institute serves a similar space in terms of addressing
the skills and training needs of a declining sea port and a largely
rural hinterland. The rapid post-war decline in the fishing industry
has left the town with an acute need for regeneration and
reinvention. In an area now largely devoid of big employers, the
college is considered a huge player with its prominent central
campus being a significant feature in the local landscape. The
college has been growing since 2000, a process that pre-dates
the present leadership team. Turnover of the corporate grouping
is in the region of £45 million per annum, covering a wide
radius of activity, from the Humber Estuary to Doncaster and
north to Leeds. Since the merger with Yorkshire Coast College
in 2010, the college group now extends down the east coast
from Scarborough to Skegness, and inland to Leeds. Grimsby
Institute is a consortium of a number of institutional types (e.g.
university centre, technical college, training providers) to serve
this extensive and complex space. The great balance of provision
is located in Grimsby, an area much in need of the revitalisation
that the college is leading.