A new education and skills drive being launched by Ashfield District Council will aim to create "the next scientists and engineers" and show youngsters high-quality jobs are available in their area.

The Ashfield Independent-led authority will discuss the drive at its cabinet meeting next week, with one leading councillor saying the work is "distilling" several council-led projects and efforts by higher education providers.

Part of the £62 million the district has already secured from the Government's Towns Fund investment will be used to create an automated distribution and manufacturing centre (ADMC).

This, the council says, will be a "national centre of excellence" focused on "promoting and providing access" to the latest technologies and best practices in automated distribution.

A further two new education centres will be created to provide opportunities for construction and civil engineering.

And the authority will be investing in a planetarium at Sherwood Observatory, off Coxmoor Road, to "bring science to life" and engage people with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.

This comes as both West Nottinghamshire College and Nottingham Trent University (NTU) are investing in new facilities to boost education offers in the district.

The efforts aim to address Government figures which put Ashfield district among some of the lowest areas nationally for a raft of educational attainment categories.

For example, in 2021 the district was ranked 327th out of 379 local authorities for primary education attainment and 332nd out of 379 authorities within the adult skills sector.

For education overall, Ashfield is ranked 310th nationally.

But Councillor Matthew Relf (Ash Ind), the authority's portfolio holder for regeneration and growth, says the council, businesses and education providers are working together to bring these figures up.

He says the authority's 2021 ranking for its overall indices has improved on 2020 and leaders "want to be turning around the aspirations for the area".

The education drive, he adds, will pull together all the projects being launched district-wide to "deliver the skills" for the area.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Let's face it, on the indices of deprivation we are not in a great position.

"Compared to last year we are improving but we certainly don't want to be in the bottom half of the table – we want to be turning around the aspirations for the area.

"It's about making sure the right conversations are going on between businesses and the education sector, so they are delivering the skills for our industry.

"West Notts College and NTU are certainly flexing to what they can deliver and a lot of that links to what we're doing with the ADMC in the Towns Fund.

"And we want to focus on lower aged groups and helping school children to go on school trips that really inspire them to be the next scientists and engineers.

"We want to show them these aspirations and these jobs are in the local area, so they can recognise the fantastic businesses we have here and to encourage more businesses to invest in our workforce."

It comes after the Government revealed Nottinghamshire is among 55 areas set to receive education investment as part of its 'Levelling Up' drive.

This, the Conservative-led Government said, will involve "intensive support, investment and targeted action to raise school standards".

Speaking on February 2, Cllr Ben Bradley MP (Con), Nottinghamshire County Council leader and Mansfield MP, confirmed Ashfield and neighbouring Mansfield will be targeted by this investment.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's about educational outcomes, school quality and teacher retention.

"Mansfield and Ashfield are the areas where this is most acute so we're getting some extra clout to help with that, to bring in new academy trusts to improve school quality.

"This also includes further education, sixth-form colleges and what work needs doing to improve educational outcomes in Mansfield and Ashfield.

"Fundamentally, education and skills are the long-term change to give people better life chances."