SPECIALIST CENTRES

In addition to the seven centres of Swindon, Exeter, Bristol, Plymouth, Gloucester/Cheltenham, Bournemouth/Dorset/Poole and Taunton, South West England offers many other suitable locations for smaller and specialist relocations. 
 
These include:

• Barnstaple and Bideford are market towns located in North Devon. Barnstaple is the main commercial centre in the area and is well placed for small or medium sized relocations.
• Bridgwater is Somerset's third largest town and is already home to international companies such as Excel, which provides a multi-million pound South West logistics operation for the National Health Service distributing equipment to hospitals across the region.
• Camborne, Pool and Redruth are towns located in Cornwall's former mining and industrial heartland, and are benefiting from Cornwall's designation as a European Union Objective One Area (2000-2006). Regeneration plans in the pipeline are backed by £150 million of funding and various sites have been earmarked for development.
• Truro and Falmouth comprise the administrative and commercial centre of Cornwall. In addition, nearby Penryn will be home to the main campus for the Combined Universities of Cornwall. The principal focus of this new university will be environmental, creative and cultural, with links to the internationally successful Eden Project in nearby St Austell.
• St Austell is set to benefit from Cornwall's Objective One funding and a major town centre redevelopment and regeneration is already underway. The Eden Project has well and truly put St Austell on the map and has generated a thriving tourism industry in the area.
• Torbay is a coastal district comprising the three towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham and has a vibrant service sector with a high level of public sector employment (31% of all jobs). Torbay has also positioned itself as a niche location for hi-tech industries.
• Weston-super-Mare, south west of Bristol, is exceptionally well-placed for a public sector relocation. The 'Weston Vision' project is spearheading development including over 400 hectares of mixed-use land including offices.
• Weymouth is another attractive seaside town, situated on the Dorset coast, with an historic military presence and has major areas of land in scenic locations available for employment use. One such scheme is Osprey Quay, a 33-hectare site acquired from the Crown Estate and MoD by the South West of England Regional Development Agency in 2000, which is being developed into an office and marina complex.
• Yeovil is a market town strategically located in Somerset on the A303, which provides good road access to the M5 and also to London via the M3. One of the main employers in Yeovil is AgustaWestland Helicopters, and there are also large established contact centres within the town.