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Invest in the Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean has always been home to enterprising people known for all sorts of businesses.

Manufacturing is strong, employing a quarter of the local workforce in business parks and bespoke manufacturing sites. Other significant sectors include professional, scientific and technical, business support, construction, logistics, information and communication businesses. Each of these employs more full-time employees than the visitor economy.

Bounded by the Severn and the Wye, historically travel by road was restricted. Cancelling the Severn Bridge tolls removes one barrier to access the Southern Forest. It shares motorway connectivity south to the M4 and north to the M50. Significant investment has been made laying fibre for digital communications making fast office and home-working a realistic choice for the new economy.

Visit Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership’s ‘Invest in Gloucestershire’ website. It showcases the best that our county has to offer to the international business community and encourages growth through inward investment.

Forest of Dean Capital Project Portfolio

To identify the final three projects included in the successful Levelling Up bid the council invited local organisations to submit expressions of interest (EOI).

A total of 16 EOI’s were submitted and were assessed against the Government criteria to make sure they were eligible before the final bid proposal was pulled together which the Council believes will have the best chance of success.

Projects that were not included in the Levelling Up bid have been compiled in a new Capital Project Portfolio. This document identifies a pipeline of short, medium and longer term projects and is intended to be a dynamic document. The Portfolio will be used to help develop the new Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Plan to be submitted to Government before 1st August 2022.

See related

Gloucestershire Economic Growth Capital Investment Pipeline

The Gloucestershire Economic Growth Capital Investment Pipeline (CIP) has been created to highlight where GFirst are prioritising economic investment. This interactive map sets out Gloucestershire’s current priorities in broad ‘infrastructure’ terms. It allows you to look at the existing and proposed investment in the county and understand the type of projects and investments that are planned or being delivered.

Vibrant Economy

We will work to develop a vibrant economy that is resilient and future proofed. More details are available in our Corporate Plan.