£4.7m investment to help borough NEETs

Dudley Council is investing £4.7m refurbishing a college building to tackle the problem of young NEETs in the borough.

NEETs are young people not in education, employment or training and government figures placed Dudley in the highest category with 21.5 percent of 16 and 17-year-olds either NEET or ‘activity not known’ at the end of 2024.

The council reacted by introducing a new tracking system to establish what ‘not known’ youngsters were doing and the authority now says statistics are closer to national performance and more stable than the Department for Education’s data indicated.

After approval from the council’s cabinet in February, Dudley’s group director for communities and growth, Nick McGurk, approved spending £4,732,031 improving Halesowen College’s Trinity Point campus to provide floorspace for 380 students.

Notes on the director’s decision said: “The project is intended to increase educational attainment within the local area through the provision of additional student places in core curriculum areas.

“The project will also address the skills shortages in core subject areas. This has been highlighted by local employers as a barrier to growth, which has had a direct impact on business productivity.”

Trinity Point is Halesowen College’s centre for digital technology and media and provides high-tech facilities including esports labs, a TV studio and control room and podcast studios.

The cash was advanced to the council by the government and is the maximum amount available for investment.

Under Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government appraisal guidance, the investment is expected to deliver social value worth £7.2m which means for every £1 of investment, around £2.30 is expected to return to the economy.

The council also expects the investment to create other benefits apart from bringing currently vacant floorspace back into use.

The decision notes said: “The building is located within Halesowen town centre, the increased footfall from students using the facility will improve visitor spend thereby supporting the local economy.”