A new centre has opened in Loundsley Green providing start-up businesses in Chesterfield and North Derbyshire with work spaces, meeting rooms, expert coaching and advice.
‘The Green’ is run by Loundsley Green Community Trust (LGCT) who have been operating the adjacent community centre (previously a church) for over 10 years.
One of the free services being delivered during that time has been an Enterprise Coaching programme, helping people to get back into work through self-employment.
Over the years that has helped over 60 people to start new businesses. Around 3 years ago the Trust looked at the Old Vicarage which was unoccupied for most of the time, and saw in it the potential to grow its support for people looking to get back into work.
The team behind the new business support centre overcame several hurdles before its opening, however the space now includes a large training room, a smaller meeting room, and five individual workspaces for use by new businesses.
The downstairs meeting and training spaces have been used to provide employability training to young people, health and safety training for people looking to work in construction, first aid training and a variety of meetings of local organisations.
An important feature of The Green is the continued support that will be provided for people looking to start new businesses, and additional funding has been received from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust to deliver a programme of training and coaching through 2021-22.
