How do we create a fairer city to support business growth?

Judging by the number of people in the room already networking over a glass of wine by 5.30pm, Brighton Chamber’s latest Big Debate topic was one of keen interest. The place was buzzing and everyone was in the mood to talk, so it took the Chair, Martin Williams, Partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter a couple of attempts to call the event to order.

Setting the scene, Martin asked us to focus on what we can do, what eco-system and essential ingredients we need as a city and how we can all play our part as a collective, working together for the benefit of us all.

Opening up the discussion from the panel, Tim Williamson, Customer Director at Responsible Travel said the support of Government helped many businesses survive Covid, but the pandemic had also created a brain drain from the city. The shift to online working has created more digital nomads – with staff working virtually from other towns and cities for Brighton-based companies, because they can’t afford to live here. The result is that the Brighton-earned pound is being spent in other local economies.

Diana Palmer, Co-founder of Redroaster drew gasps from the audience when she said that she was paying £4,000 a month for her chefs to live in an Airbnb in Brighton over the summer months, after they lost their rental accommodation two months ago. Di explained the combined effect of Brexit and Covid had been a disaster for the local hospitality industry and that with too many employers chasing the same skill set, she had to get creative to keep her staff.

The first question from the audience kicked off a discussion about how we would measure success in creating a fairer society.

Cllr Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, spoke about the challenge of deeply entrenched socio economic and educational disadvantage and the responsibility we all have to help people fulfil their potential and thrive, not just survive.

The audience welcomed hearing that affordable housing remains a top priority for the Council, including the introduction of landlord licensing and a zero-tolerance approach to rogue landlords. It was agreed that both elements would help businesses retain employees.

Echoing Bella’s comments, Olga Hopton, Expansion Director at Plus X Innovation also emphasised the need for high skilled jobs to enable people to reach their potential too. She added that for business growth in a fair city, skills and innovation are key and improving skills should be accessible to anyone and everyone.

The event then moved on to smaller, more focused discussions at each table, with the opportunity to grab some crisps, top up the wine and get to know one another a bit better. Attendees were asked to discuss and feed back to the room, working from different questions on the topic of the Big Debate.

Listening to the feedback, it was interesting to hear people’s take on whether there is a tension between a fair city and successful business environment. It was felt that there was a lack of connectedness, with Brighton maintaining an unhelpful separateness from other, nearby local authorities.

There was a general consensus around three key things that could help the city thrive and support business growth, including:

• Affordable housing for people to live in, not to be used as a cash cow for residential property-based investment.
• The need for business diversification, innovation and a big business anchor that would feed the development of new talent, support the local supply chain and enable us to compete with other cities.
• The creation of stronger links between learning and businesses so students learn practical skills for businesses including more apprenticeships.

With so much agreement, this event was more discussion than debate, but that’s a good starting point on which to develop the community manifesto that was called for.

From a personal perspective, it’s heartening to live and work in a city where so many like-minded business people come together to discuss how we can create a fairer city and support sustainable economic growth, at the same time. I look forward to contributing to a community manifesto to help make it all happen.

Find out more about the Big Debate, and see past discussions and topics here. 

With thanks to our event sponsor, Help to Grow Management Course, run by the University of Brighton. A mini MBA style course for senior business leaders and managers to help grow their business. Find out more about Help to Grow on their website. 

And for more topical, networking and learning events, head over to our events calendar. 

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk