The Week in Numbers:
1. £65.2m
That’s the figure for new funding for the South West, part of which will add to the coastal community fund for an Electronics and Photonics Centre in Paignton – a specialised business centre for the Bay’s high tech firms.
Here are some more figures associated with it:
‘This is in addition to the £130.3m of funding committed by the Government on 7 July 2014. Over the lifetime of its Deal (2015-2021) the Local Enterprise Partnership estimates that up to 22,000 new jobs could be created, 11,000 new homes built and that it has the potential to generate £260m public and private investment.’
2. 500
That’s the number of Jedi Knights in Torbay, according the last Census – a drop of 300 from the previous one. There are 521 Muslims; 389 Buddihsts; 246 Spiritualist; 177 Pagan; 128 Hindus; 109 Jews; 70 of mixed religion; 41 Sikhs; 40 Wiccas; 36 Spirituals; 11 Taoists; 9 Rastafarians; 7 Pantheisms; 6 with their own belief system; 6 Univeralists; 5 Baha’is; 5 believe in Satanisms; there are 4 New Agers; 4 believe in Witchcraft; 3 Deists; 3 Heathen; 3 Scientologists; and 2 of the Native American Church. At the other end of the scale, out of the Torbay population of 130,959, Christian 82,924 claim they are Christian; 35,535 claim they have no religion; and 10,110 didn’t state a religion.
3. 100
The number of artists who will be able to move into Plymouth’s £4.2m Ocean Studios. The complex will have 31 studios, which can be shared by more than one artist, and ‘incubation’ room for 20-25, says the Plymouth Herald. And the 1,906-square-metre conversion will have two education areas to host workshops, seminars and conferences, and an exhibition/ retail space. The venture will help stem the brain drain of 600 art graduates who leave the city each year.
4. 350
The number of homes to be built at White Rock, Paignton in a £55million project, which will create 1,250 new jobs and be completed by 2020.
5. £1.3m
The amount of funding from the Coastal Communities Fund to extend the Exe Estuary cycling trial into the heart of Dawlish
6. 5%
The proposed figure for a new tourism VAT. North Devon MP Nick Harvey has launched a petition to reduce VAT on tourism related businesses from 20% to 5%. 25 out of 27 EU member states have reduced VAT for tourism, leaving the UK with the second highest rates of the bloc – twice as high as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, he says. Research by Deloitte has shown it would create 120,000 jobs in three years and boost Treasury takings by £2.6 billion over the next decade. Over 100 MPs are backing the campaign, including 14 from the South West.
(image: High-Key Jedi Master by Pascal Some rights reserved)
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