Units for business start-ups to be built in Broxtowe to remove barriers for entrepreneurs

Broxtowe Borough Council has approved its plans to build three new industrial buildings next to Giltbrook Retail Park, and they will feature nine units for business start-ups.

The council applied for, and was successful in being awarded £16.5 million in 2023 for government funding for a project called Kimberley Means Business, and £3 million will be going towards the new start-up units on vacant land off Giltway.

The scheme has been supplemented by a Greening Growth grant from the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) and Mayor Claire Ward.

Plans were approved at a planning committee meeting on Wednesday (October 28).

Coun Stephen Jeremiah (Broxtowe Alliance), who chairs the planning committee, said the new units would provide smaller start-ups with a fighting chance.

Coun Jeremiah is also local entrepreneur with a small business supplying educational rugs and carpets to schools across the country.

He says he struggled to find appropriate units in the borough for his work, when he was searching for one six to seven years ago.

As such, he started his business in a shipping container in Saxondale, before moving to a unit out of the borough.

“From my perspective I’d looked for units six, seven years ago and there was absolutely nothing in Broxtowe at all,” he said. “As a councillor I’ve always said we should do more for small businesses.

“The biggest barrier to anyone starting up their own business is five-year leases. You have to be pretty risk-averse to do that.

“I was lucky to have started in a container. But some businesses can’t do that, they need the proper facilities.

“My business was established by the time I moved into a unit. We need more short-term leases. There are zombie companies surviving by not paying staff properly or using cheap properties subsidised by the council.

“Building these units is a good opportunity of using levelling up [funding].”

One nearby resident objected to the plans based on construction and operational noise, light, traffic, and security.

During the meeting Coun Peter Bales (Lab) said he was in favour of the units, but feared the traffic situation along Giltway could worsen.

“[You are] down to a single lane because of the amount of the parked traffic,” he said.

“I am concerned with the additional traffic and goods vehicles coming from the new units coming along that road and has potential to cause issues for people exiting the IKEA grounds onto that road.”

While the council’s officers acknowledged there would be some impact in terms of neighbouring amenity, this would be mitigated through a number of conditions.

The Giltbrook site was previously used as storage associated with the housing development accessed off Smithurst Road, which was built in around 2019-20.