An interloper at The Business Support Forum

If, like me, you've ever pondered how the money you hand over to HM Government and the Council is being spent locally, the answer is: in lots of different ways.  There are plans.  Not all of them turn up trumps but believe me, the Powers that Be are looking at run down buildings, overgrown spaces and old, ugly buildings in and around Brighton and trying to make our City a better place.

How do I know this?  Aha. I was lucky enough to attend one of the recent quarterly meetings of the Business Support Partnership in Brighton. They had tea and chocolate biscuits so I was somewhat distracted for a short while but it was a really interesting meeting so I'm going to tell you all about it.

The Business Support Partnership offers the opportunity for regular pow-wows between a dozen or so key local business leaders and the Council.  It's a good place to address issues that affect the things that matter to you and me.  Julia Chanteray, the Chamber's president, chairs the meetings and Jason Kitcat, in his capacity as Leader, represents the Council.  

April's meeting featured an update on the major developments in the city by Tony Mernagh, Chief Executive of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, the latest on the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (Phil Jones of Wired Sussex)and what's going on with the Chamber's Living Wage campaign (Julia Chanteray from the Chamber).

My, there's a lot going on.  There are, or were, a dozen or so projects on the go but most of them seem to have been victims of our economic kibosh - money, in other words. For example,  for some time now there have been plans to refurbish the Brighton Centre and also to extend Churchill Square but sadly you may have to wait a long time for this one.  

I expect that you all know by now about ING withdrawing support for those "striking" Frank Gheary towers at the King Alfred but fret ye not as there are plans to develop Hove station, Circus Street and Edward Street AND there's going to be a big tower thingy called the i360 on the seafront in a couple of years, which is going to taller than the London Eye.  Woo hoo!

On a more serious note though, local population projections indicate that we're running out of housing so when development projects stall, it's something we all need to be aware of.

Phil Jones,  MD of Wired Sussex updated us on the latest news about the Coast to Capital LEP.  In case you weren't aware, the Local Enterprise Partnership is the body that receives economic strategy, support and funds from central government, which it in turn rolls out locally. For our area this is good news, as  a recent report by Michael Heseltine, MP for local skills provision training and funds provision had most of its recommendations accepted.

Are you aware of the Living Wage campaign?  Launched last year, it aims to encourage local businesses voluntarily to pay all employees at least £7.45 per hour, an amount that has been calculated according to basic cost of living analysis.  Good news: 44 companies so far have signed up but Julia Chantarey aims to get the number to 100 - an effective newsworthy amount of supporters with which to raise the profile of the campaign.

Finally, Jason Kitcat updated us on a few funding and status bids: it seems that it's all rather positive, not least because the Council is in the process of bidding for City Deal status, an effective way of devolving central government power to our local area, in exchange for delivering local growth - this is a Good Thing as we'll be able to spend our money how we see fit.

Did you know that we're also bidding for Biosphere Status, which I know sounds a bit odd but in a nutshell is an achievement of recognition for our work to support our environment.  This is cool because it opens more opportunities for funding (cycle paths, that sort of thing) and helps us promote Brighton as a green City.

So, that's all for now.  Lots of good things going on in Brighton and Hove so watch this space for developments.

By Susan Beckingham, Sussex Copywriting Services

 

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