Business and Learning Initiatives
Looe Town Council wants to foster sustainable economic development in our town, supporting town businesses and working with the other town organisations.
In September 2021 the Council successfully applied for funding to pay for research to understand the current situation and what initiatives your Council could take to support the development of the town. This research was completed in August 2022 and can be accessed as an attachment below.
Earlier this year, another successful funding application enabled the Council to undertake a consultation with the community and local representatives of Looe’s business and learning community. This work is now complete, and a report has been produced. The report is included as an attachment below.
The report suggested that the Council start with small interventions focused on business skills initiatives, support and training for young people, cultural events and activities and working with local and sub regional partners. A working group has been meeting to see how we can deliver four pilot projects linked to business and skills and training for young people:
• Mentoring support for all types of local businesses
We know that there are many people in Looe with local, national and global business experience. We think that some of these will be happy to share their knowledge with local businesses on a voluntary basis. Our aim is to bring together ‘mentors’ and ‘mentees’ to help Looe businesses thrive.
• Supplementary training for school leavers and young adults
With no post-16 education in Looe, young people wanting to continue their learning have to travel. This means that some people either miss out on the opportunity or it doesn’t work out for them. We are looking at how we might support local training in key skills to plug this gap.
• Business, creative and professional development through the arts
Many artists live in Looe and our area. We want to see how we can support opportunities for people to create viable arts and creative businesses, adding to the already vibrant culture of the town.
• Training support for local hospitality businesses
Hospitality is central to the economy of Looe. We want to work with existing and new businesses to support training and development to sustain and further improve the great hospitality choices that our town already offers.
These are our ideas so far and we aim to run pilot projects with each of them in the coming months. We will learn if there is a demand, if the ideas make sense and how we can improve and develop them.
Anyone interested please contact enquiries@looetowncouncil.gov.uk
