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The Wilky Group chairman & chief executive Malcolm Young has taken on a new role with a group that will help shape the economic development of Hampshire.
Mr Young, a property developer and investor of more than 30 years experience, has been appointed as vice chairman of Hampshire Economic Partnership’s Land & Property Task Group.
A recognised strategic partner of the various regional government bodies, including SEEDA, HEP brings together business and local government to influence policy and support economic prosperity. Its Land & Property Task Group is a key forum for assessing planning, development and investment issues affecting Hampshire, with aims that include identifying future market opportunities and encouraging high standards of development.
Mr Young, a member of the task group for nearly four years, said: “Hampshire faces some crucial decisions about land use and I am delighted to help ensure the decision makers have the necessary facts to hand. Pressure for more housing must go hand in hand with securing sufficient land for local jobs, if the concept of sustainable prosperity is to have real meaning. These sites must also be of sufficient quality or else companies won’t bring their money to - or keep it in – the county.”
He is especially keen to provide a voice for his native north Hampshire. “Lacking a city like Southampton and Portsmouth, we sometimes struggle to maintain a high profile,” he added. “But I am excited by the commercial opportunities opening up in towns like Aldershot and Bordon as the Army reduces its landholding.”
Mr Young is already vice chairman of Enterprise First, now the South East’s leading enterprise agency following the recent merger with South Hampshire Enterprise Agency. Its 25 advisers operate from 20 locations across the whole of Hampshire and Surrey supporting new and start-up businesses through advice, mentoring, networking and the provision of managed workspace.
Wilky, which is based in Farnborough and Guildford, has been a long-time sponsor of Enterprise First, which opened its doors in 1981 as Blackwater Valley Enterprise Agency. Wilky is currently developing the UK’s largest primary healthcare centre at Aldershot. Apart from development and investment, its other property-related business activities include fund management and loan administration, as well as the operation of business centres in heritage buildings – Cams Hall, Fareham, Parallel House, Guildford, and Fetcham Park House, near Leatherhead.
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Photo: Malcolm Young, chairman of the Wilky Group
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