Speaking on The Leaders Council Podcast, Northamptonshire business owner Lorna Dodge explains how her experience of marketing garnered through running her own design agency has helped in her role as the chair of Corby Town Bid, providing vital experience which would aid her in working with local government to deliver on the town’s priorities.
Lorna Dodge is the co-owner and digital marketing director at SC Agency, a design agency based in Corby, Northamptonshire. Alongside her business commitments, Dodge also chairs the Corby Town Bid, a role which involves overseeing the town’s board and ensuring that its activities deliver on the agreed outcomes of the Future Town Investment Plan by the year 2026.
Dodge has run SC Agency since 2004 and joined Corby Town Bid after being appointed chair in 2020. However, lacking in experience collaborating with local authorities, she told The Leaders Council that she initially had reservations about whether she would prove to be the right fit for such a position.
Dodge explained: “I think initially, I was kind of concerned about whether I was the right person for that role, because I didn't have the experience and hadn't worked with councils or governments in that capacity.”
Yet, she quickly realised that the experience she’d gained providing marketing services locally and helping in the housebuilding process alongside her partner over many years, could be put to good use in her new role.
“In my spare time over the last 20 or so years, myself and my partner have built houses. So, with regard to that kind of process from identifying a project or identifying a plot of land to go through the protocol required, I felt I could add some kind of value. I felt I could also add value from looking at the consumer side of things, in terms of how we communicate what we're doing.”
While it took some time to utilise her experience to the best effect, Dodge revealed that she soon was able to get comfortable in her latest position and help deliver on Corby’s priorities.
“Initially, it was a bit overwhelming trying to get used to the way that the council works. But now two years or so into the project I'm quite comfortable and feel quite competent in in being able to support and deliver what we need to deliver. I do think it was a very good learning process for me because I was supported by some amazing people and still am supported by some amazing people that all add their own value from their own experiences.”
Delving into detail about what the Corby Town Bid was looking to work on in the future, Dodge informed us about four main projects that the body was looking to deliver over the coming years and revealed how this would help level up the area.
“There are four projects that we're working on for which we had the funding approved in the towns fund last year. We have a Sixth Form College and we’re using an existing building in the town called Chisolm House that we’re going to be repurposing and renovating into a carbon neutral building. The aim of that is to attract 16-to-18-year-olds to the college. With that being in a town centre location, it is going to help local businesses given that staff and students will be using them during the day. There is also a multi-use building which is going to be situated near Chisholm House which we’ll be developing to provide new accommodation for modern art and a community centre after we identified a demand for that within the town.
“The third project is called the Corby Station Links. The journey from Corby train station into the town centre aesthetically isn’t great and it wasn’t a route that people would want to walk along typically because of how it is laid out next to the road along with various other aspects. So, we are providing an attractive and safe pedestrian and cycle connection between the train station and town centre. Along a part of that route is Tresham College, so that is going to have better footpaths and cycleways connecting it to the wider town as a result.
“The final part of the project is establishing Corby as both a smart and green town. So, we're harnessing clean technologies and we're going to be monitoring all of the associated data to enable us to understand pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, shoppers and visitors and what they need. We want to be able to predict the future in terms of how the town will adapt and change. We’ve got one project that has fully started and architects are working on it, and then others are going to take a little bit longer. But by 2023, the college project should be close to opening or should be completed by September that year. So, we do have one positive target to look towards.”
While Dodge was closely focused on delivering the projects Corby Town Bid had lined up, she also spoke of how expanding her business following the Covid-19 pandemic would also come as a priority between now and the end of 2023.
“For my marketing business, SC Agency, we’d hope by next year to have grown the business to enable another four people to join our team and with the strategies we have in place for that, we think that’s very much achievable.”
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
