3 businessinsouthribble.com South Ribble is #TheBestPlacetoLive South Ribble has been voted the best place to live in the UK, by Channel 4. The borough scored highly across the board when considering factors most important to young adults such as wages, wellbeing, culture, family life and accessibility to other cities. As well as low house prices, South Ribble offers a range of employment opportunities with the same number of jobs created in the area between 2004 and 2012 compared to Manchester and Liverpool combined. Leyland Trucks and DAF Trucks were the first to snap up two of the landmarks. Ivan Shearer, HR director at Leyland Trucks, said: “Leyland Trucks and DAF Trucks UK are proud to sponsor this exciting local community project. “It is particularly pleasing to work with South Ribble Borough Council and STEMFirst to encourage our local education sector to develop their vision of what a future truck might look like, and in doing so we will help inspire the next generation of manufacturers and engineers.” Part of the sponsorship money will fund an education programme in local schools to teach children about careers opportunities in advanced manufacturing and engineering under the STEM (science, engineering, maths and engineering) banner. Schoolchildren were also given the chance to design the 14th vehicle, which is based around the idea of the ‘truck of the future’ and was unveiled at Leyland Festival. Helen Heggie, director of STEMfirst, concluded: “The UK STEM skills shortage means it is imperative that employers and education work together to inspire the next generation, helping young people see STEM as a job for them and developing the key skills that employers will require from their future workforce. “Truck Trail is a perfect vehicle for schools, employers, young people and their carers to get involved. This is an incredible opportunity for local employers to inform, inspire and educate the next generation about the career opportunities, skills requirements and businesses on their doorsteps.” Many local businesses are supporting the project including Leyland Valeting, which is keeping the trucks in top condition. For more information, visit www.trucktrail.co.uk, follow @TheTruckTrail on twitter or The Leyland Truck Trail on Facebook. Winning school truck at the festival Worden Park, Leyland Worden Park School finalists at Leyland Trucks