Let’s do business in and Grove

Great business offer

The settlements of Wantage and Grove are home to a number of internationally-renowned businesses, including Crown UK Holdings Ltd and Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd. MacDermid Autotype has its headquarters in Wantage and offices in the US, Singapore and China. Other major employers include Bybox, a market leader in box-based logistics, Stan James the bookmaker, Bellinger car sales and John Lewis of Hungerford.

There is a growing cluster of science-related businesses in Wantage and Grove, and Grove Technology Park is part of Science Vale UK, a global hot spot for enterprise and innovation in science, high technology and the application of knowledge. Grove Technology Park is set in 32 acres of land, offering one acre building plots as well as high quality, flexible, office and light industrial accommodation. It has 25 companies in its main buildings and a further 60 smaller businesses in its business centre. More than 800 people work on the park. Wantage offers incubator units on the Nalder Estate, as well as the industrial W&G Estate.

Wantage and Grove provide a strong retail offer for the area, with over 70 multiple and independent retailers between the two settlements. Wantage Town Council runs a twice weekly market and a weekly farmers market. Recorded retail vacancy rates in 2011 were lower than the national average1. For further information about businesses in and around Wantage please visit www.wantage.com. Great services and amenities

Wantage is a beautiful market town with a good range of amenities. It hosts a local community hospital, a public library, a Civic Hall, three primary schools and one large secondary school. Links with the past are very strong. Wantage was an ancient Roman settlement and is the birthplace of King Alfred the Great. It is close to the Ridgeway, White Horse Hill and Waylands Smithy. Its rich history is celebrated at the Vale and Downland Museum located in the town.

The village of Grove has grown from a small hamlet of about 500 to almost 10,000 inhabitants and is likely to grow further with the imminent new housing development of 2,500 houses on the Grove airfield, and the Crab Hill development of 1,500 houses. Grove already has three medical practices, a day care centre, two primary schools and a public library. The development of Grove airfield includes plans for a new primary and secondary school, library, community buildings, sports pitches and a park.

Both settlements benefit from many sports clubs and societies and a full calendar of events, including the newly created Betjeman Festival of Literature and Poetry. More information can be found at www.wantage.com and at www.grove-oxon.org.uk

As part of Science Vale UK, Wantage and Grove benefit from a choice of broadband providers, including access to high speed broadband through cable.

In June 2011 www.home.co.uk recorded that the average house price in Wantage was £255,427, up by only one per cent from the previous year, and £255,437 in Grove an increase of four per cent in the last year. The average for was £312,313 for the same period, up by 10 percent from the previous year.

Great location

Wantage and Grove are within easy access of key employment sites in the district and major access routes: • seven miles from the A34, which provides easy access to major towns and cities across the UK • ten miles from the M4 • less than ten miles from Parkway railway station (45 minutes to London) • 15 miles from and 20 miles to Swindon, which both have a railway station • 58 miles from London Heathrow and 73 miles from Bristol airport • less than ten miles from Harwell Innovation Centre and Milton Park, which are also part of Science Vale UK • buses every hour between Wantage and Oxford via Harwell, Didcot, Milton Park, Abingdon and Culham.

There is a former railway station on the north side of Grove that is being seriously examined within Oxfordshire’s structure plan for possible re-opening.

1Vale of White Horse District Council retail survey, September 2011. The survey is available from www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk Great local skills

The combined population for both settlements is 19,009 and is expected to rise to 22,425 by 2016. Over eighty-four per cent of the working age population is economically active with 73.88 per cent of them in full-time employment. By July 2011, only 1.67 per cent of the working age population were claiming job seekers allowance2. Levels of education are quite high with over 15 per cent of the population having been educated to degree level or above3.

Local residents are mainly employed as managers and senior officials, are professionals or are in administrative and secretarial roles as shown in the table below. Median annual earnings within the Parliamentary constituency are around £26,0004, one of the highest in the South East and over £4,500 per head than for the rest of England.

Wantage and Grove key statistics Wantage and Grove Oxfordshire Population (2009)[1] 19,009 630,430 Population (2016)[2] 22,425 663,620 Economically active % (2001) 84.4% 78.7% Economically inactive % (2001) 17.9% 21.3%

Employment by occupation (2001) Managers / senior officials 15.0% 18.2% Professionals 13.5% 22.8% Associate professional and technical 13.1% 14.0% Administrative and secretarial 13.3% 8.4% Skilled trades 10.6% 9.2% Personal services 6.6% 9.4% Sales and customer services 7.0% 7.5% Process plant and machine operatives 7.8% 3.4% Elementary occupations 10.6% 7.1% Source: Nomis labour market profile, 2011

The public sector and the professional, scientific and IT sector offer the greatest number of jobs locally, as shown in the table below. It reflects the relative highly skilled nature of the workforce. Despite the table below showing a much higher percentage of residents employed in manufacturing (more than twice the Oxfordshire average), the sector does not appear to provide much employment locally. This presents an opportunity for local investors.

Number of Sector split Number of Wantage employees within employees in share of local Employment by sector in Wantage Wantage Oxfordshire employment

Manufacturing 542 10.8% 23,425 2.3% Construction 202 4.0% 14,321 1.4% Services 4,267 85.0% 268,268 1.5% Retailing 872 17.4% 29,411 2.9% Transport & communications 161 3.2% 25,052 0.6% Professional, scientific, IT, business 1,066 21.2% 60,222 1.5% Public admin, education and health 1,273 25.4% 101,455 1.2% Other services 895 17.8% 52,128 1.7% Total jobs 5,019 306,014 1.6% Source: ONS business register and employment survey, 2009

Can we help?

If you are thinking of locating your business in the district and would like some further information please contact the economic development team via email: [email protected] or call: 01235 540346.

2Ward Labour Market Profile, Nomis 2011 3ONS Qualifications (UV24), April 2001 4ONS Home Parliamentary Constituency Annual Pay – Gross 2010, Wantage Constituency