In 2012, I became Leader of the Opposition on Crawley Borough Council, and with results that year suggesting we would regain control at the next election, I immediately began developing the manifesto upon which we were subsequently elected.
Extensive research went into producing the manifesto, drawing upon every bit of local data I could access and meetings with key stakeholders across the community, and one thing which became clear was the vulnerability of Crawley’s employment.
While Gatwick Airport has enabled low unemployment locally for decades, higher wage jobs our economy were rarely going to Crawley residents, and increasing automation across the sector meant many existing jobs would be lost over time. As a result, we worked with officers to create the town’s first ever Employment and Skills Plan, focusing on both improving the skills-base of the town and drawing in a greater range of employment opportunities.
Amongst the huge range of activities and investment delivered over the years since are major projects such as the Town Centre Skills Academy and Employ Crawley, with the FUSION Innovation Centre and Institute of Technology due to launch shortly.
All this was extremely hard going due to the general lack of interest from central government, with the Conservatives more focused on other parts of the country, even as Crawley took the biggest economic hit in the country during COVID-19.
At last things are changing, last month the new Labour government announced the launch of Skills England, bringing together the fractured skills landscape under a single body specifically tasked with boosting the nation’s skills and driving the economic growth the country desperately needs to raise living standards and fund public services. It is a mission tying directly into the council’s decade-long skills agenda.
It’s an opportunity we cannot afford to miss and while I know that councillors and officers at Crawley Borough Council will be ready to work with the new body, I very much hope that West Sussex County County—as our local education authority—are also prepared to act a good deal more proactively to Crawley’s benefit than has typically been the case.
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Peter Lamb for Crawley 
WSCC have only been interested in how much they can make from Crawley for years and have failed to invest in our infrastructure. Crawley is expected to take the hit with school places, FE and GP provision for the new houses that are constantly being built on our doorstep, without any thought for how it can be done. Every day I see cars streaming into Gatwick and Crawley full of people who ‘wouldn’t live in Crawley’ but are happy to take our jobs. They contribute nothing to the local economy either but are happy to run our town down.
it’s time WSCC stepped up and invested in Crawley. The rest of the county benefitted when Crawley was more prosperous and we can’t do everything without more support.
sorry for the rant!