LEADING colleges from across the Tees Valley have signed up to help deliver the Teesworks Skills Academy to ensure local people have the right skills to fill the jobs being created on site.

The new academy, announced by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen earlier this year, will help local people take advantage of job opportunities at Teesworks by training them to gain the skills they need and linking them with employers who are recruiting across the 4,500 acre site.

The Teesworks Skills Academy will be led by the Education Training Collective (Etc), which includes Stockton Riverside and Redcar and Cleveland Colleges. These will be joined by Darlington, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool FE Colleges and Teesside University and the Learning Curve Group to help deliver the academy.

The academy will also work with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council who will use their community-based training and employment hubs to help train local people and enable them to access jobs.

Mr Houchen said: “The redevelopment of the Teesworks site is central to my plan for jobs, but there is no point in securing investment and creating these jobs if people in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool don’t have the best opportunity possible to access them.

“The new Teesworks Skills Academy will help them do just that by giving local people the skills they need so they are perfectly placed to take advantage of the jobs we are creating.

“Jobs are already being created on site, in just the last five months we’ve seen 557 good-quality well paid jobs created on site through my 12-month plan to demolish to deliver. These are real jobs putting more money in the pockets of local workers so they can look after themselves and their families, and over the coming weeks, months and years ahead thousands of jobs are going to be on their way. That’s why it is essential that we train local people and give them the skills they need so they are ready and raring to go.

“I am pleased colleges from across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, along with our university and the private sector have come together to help make the Teesworks Skills Academy a reality. I would encourage anyone looking for a job to get in touch and go on the website to find out more.”