‘A huge opportunity’ for Gloucestershire
Possibly the biggest single investment in the Forest of Dean in recent times looks set to go ahead, tipped to bring hundreds of jobs, visitors and have ripple effects across the district.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to our Monday edition.
With best intentions that hopefully won’t jinx its progress through the district council on Tuesday 13 August, we take a look at plans to invest £50 million-plus in Gloucestershire to develop a former industrial site with a scheme that includes a restaurant with a covered balcony overlooking the Forest of Dean.
It all promises to be very exciting, but its journey to this stage has not been easy. However, everyone seems confident that this time the man behind the scheme will be given the go-ahead, and we hear from possibly the Forest of Dean’s best-know businessman, Enill Ricketts, about why it is so important.
We’ve also got our weekly introduction to one of the county’s many charities (there are more than 2,000 of them apparently), a mini feature we usually try and tie in with some existing connection to the business community, be that fundraising, mentoring, volunteering.
And then there are our ‘briefing notes’, the succinct round up of stories, social media posts and other stuff that has caught our eye. Some of these featured on Friday’s members only edition for our paying subscribers.
Anyway, we hope there is something in the mix to keep you interested. Please do let us know about anything you would like us to cover. That might just be an idea, a topic, an issue, something you’ve heard that you want investigated. We’d love to hear from you.
Have a great week.
If you have a story idea, want to know more or are interested in commercial opportunities please email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061.
Our weekly charity: Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity
Cancer patients undergoing treatment in Gloucestershire will be the direct beneficiaries of a £33,000 donation by a Cheltenham restaurant. Customers and staff at Mowgli Street Food in the town’s Brewery Quarter amassed the money to allow the Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity to buy a new scalp cooling machine. Patients will be able to wear a cold cap during treatment sessions such as chemotherapy to limit blood flow to the head, a method that can prevent drugs from reaching the hair and causing hair loss. Catherine Harker, Gloucestershire Hospitals’ matron of oncology, haematology and immunology, said: “It doesn't cure cancer or stop other treatment side effects, but it does help patients to go about their daily lives without feeling constantly reminded of their illness.” More than 5,000 people have chemotherapy and other treatments each year in the Gloucestershire Oncology Centre.
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Your briefing notes
💷 County accountancy firm McGills has been bought by South West-based Monahans. It means McGills offices in Cirencester, Fairford and across the border into Malmesbury now come under the wing of its new Swindon-headquartered owner. Apparently McGills partners Simon Nuttall, Sharla Dandy and Helen Jones will become partners at Monahans, with Nuttall saying he is “delighted to be joining forces”.
💷 A Gloucestershire firm has added a cool £14.5 million to its group turnover. Moreton Valence-based Pump Supplies, which has a turnover of more than £30 million in its own right, is one of the largest suppliers of electric submersible water pumps in the UK operating through five depots in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has bought Surrey-based PDAS, a specialist in maintenance and monitoring of waste water pumping stations. In its last financial year Pump Supplies increased its staff numbers from 76 to 83. The deal adds another 63 to the group’s total.
💷 Earnz Plc, headed by Gloucestershire businessman Bob Holt, was on the acquisition trail last week. The shell company created to invest in firms in the energy services and net zero sectors, and which earlier this year raised £4 million to enable it to do so, announced two acquisitions. Holt, who famously bought Gloucester-based Mears Group for £50,000 and grew it into a firm with an order book of £1 billion, announced the latest deals on LinkedIn - they being Cosgrove & Drew in Bristol and South West Heating Services in Plymouth, as well as the promise of more ‘capital raising’ to come.
💷 A Gloucestershire firm that specialises in handling digital transactions for local authorities has been taken over in a £13 million deal. GovTech, based in Cirencester, has become part of Bedford–based software and automation business Netcall. The Cotswolds company, which handles an estimated 30 million transactions annually from 50 local authorities, including Bristol, Leeds and Edinburgh city councils, will remain in Cirencester and its 39 staff, including the founders, will stay with the business too.
💷 A Tewkesbury business that specialises in green roofing (think turf, flowers and plants rather than tiles) as well as the flowing vertical garden walls that cover some buildings, has been sold in a deal said to be worth £2.5 million. Sky Garden, which created the green roof you will have seen if you have ever cast your eye over the award-winning Gloucester Services on the M5, has been bought by FTSE 250 group Genuit.
📈 Nimesh Patel, the group chief executive of major Gloucestershire employer and world-wide engineering giant Spirax Sarco, said he expected ‘stronger growth’ for the business in the second half of the year after revealing its results for the first half of its financial year. They were, he said, ‘slightly below its expectations’. Revenue for the six months to 30 June this year was £827 million, down three per cent on 2023 when it was £850.8 million.
🎤 It’s being blamed on the cost-of-living crisis, but Witcombe Festival has announced a shock last minute withdrawal from this summer calendar. Even though it was reported that the event’s website was taking booking as late as early this week, organisers have now confirmed the cancellation of the event, which took place at the foot of the famous cheese rolling hill near Gloucester. A statement on its website blamed the cost of living crisis, adding that 53 such gatherings have cancelled this year. Full refunds are expected to be given within 14 days.
🏇 Ian Renton’s successor at chief executive officer of The Jockey Club-owned Cheltenham Racecourse has been announced. Renton will remain in an advisory role for a period to ensure a smooth transition ahead of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, during which time his replacement, Guy Lavender, will be settling in. Lavender is currently chief executive and secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns the Lord’s cricket ground in London, and served for 18 years in the Parachute Regiment.
🏗️ A plan for what is billed as a £55 million development to build 147 houses and apartments on the site of North Place car park in Chelteham has been recommended for approval. The 75 homes and four-storey apartment block on the site just behind the Brewery Quarter include a commitment to provide 20 per cent affordable housing on-site, a contribution of more than £1 million towards upgrades towards local education, libraries and the Chilterns Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation.
‘A huge opportunity’ for Gloucestershire
Possibly the biggest single investment in the Forest of Dean in recent times looks about to go ahead, tipped to bring hundreds of jobs, visitors and have ripple effects across the district.
It is something of a triumph of one man’s determination that tomorrow night Richard Cook may well finally be able to celebrate a long battle to invest £50 million-plus into the Forest of Dean.
If ever the current Government, with its talk of planning reforms and ‘getting Britain building’, needed an example of how strong-willed you have to be to deliver exciting investment plans then Richard Cook could be its poster boy.
The businessman famously started what to some might still see as a relatively modest business, the Severn & Wye Smokery beside the A48 at Chaxhill - purveyor of fine fish, food and home of The Restaurant - in 1989.
But Cook’s empire actually stretches up to Grimsby and south to Salisbury, it made the ‘Forest of Dean’ a sought-after brand, champions environmental issues on the Severn and Wye and today turns over in excess of £50 million and has an estimated 240 staff.
