Archive for September, 2011
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, attended the official opening of the new Landau Forte Academy Tamworth, Amington building.
The new £35 million development was officially opened early this week by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The school is home to around 960 11-16 pupils and over 100 members of staff. The building, which is now complete, took a little over 14 months to complete after the school gained Academy status in September 2010 switching from the former Woodhouse High School. This summer the school saw an increase of 17% of students achieving at least 5 A*-C including English and maths, one of the best improvement stories in the country.
The Landau Forte trust now educates almost 3000 students over four sites, including three in Tamworth.
After a guided tour of the new building and facilities Mr Pincher commented:
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Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, and Staffordshire County Council Leader Philip Atkins have joined up to welcomed news of a major new manufacturing initiative in the West Midlands.
Mr. Pincher and Mr. Atkins, pictured at the Landau Forte Academy in Amington, showed off the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles which have been lent to the County Council to advertise a deal which will provide a major boost to the local economy. The Council has been negotiating with JLR for many months to clinch it.
JLR is to create up to 750 jobs at a new factory on a site near Wolverhampton, the firm has announced.
The carmaker, owned by Indian firm Tata, is investing £355m to build low-emission engines on a 120-hectare site at a business park near the M54 in Staffordshire.
The news has been welcomed by the government, local MPs and Staffordshire County Council. JLR Chief Executive Dr. Ralf Speth said it was “truly exciting news”.
He went on:
“We expect the engine manufacturing facility to create up to 750 highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing posts at Jaguar Land Rover, along with hundreds more highly-skilled manufacturing jobs in the supply chain and the wider UK economy.”
Dr. Speth also commended the “strong support” from the government, local unions, local MPs, local authorities and JLR employees
Mr. Pincher said:
“This is excellent news for Staffordshire that will have a positive knock on for Tamworth. I am very pleased that the hard work and effort put in by the County Council, together with support from MPs, has paid off. And I am pleased to welcome Philip Atkins to Tamworth, with his fleet of JLR vehicles, to advertise this tremendous new deal. We need new manufacturers in the area to improve opportunities for school leavers and create a market for technical and engineering skills. Jaguar Land Rover’s investment is just the ticket.”
