Member Blog

The UK jobs market for specialist positions remained extremely competitive and fast-moving throughout 2019. Research from the British Chamber of Commerce revealed that in the first quarter of the year, over half of UK businesses (53%) had intended to recruit but nearly three-quarters (73%) then struggled to find the right people. It shared similar findings in quarter three, with three quarters of UK businesses still reporting difficulties finding the talent and skills they needed.

At the moment, this candidate-driven market looks set to continue into 2020. So what are the strongest weapons employers can use to boost their armoury and win the war for talent?

A competitive offering

One of the immediate things people may think of is salary. If you pay the most, will you come out as the winners? Our findings and day-to-day experience show this isn’t necessarily the case. Employers do need to be prepared to offer a fair and competitive salary, and they can use our Compare my Salary tool to benchmark what they are offering against similar roles in the eastern region. However, a happy and fulfilling place to work relies on much more than just how much people are paid. This is good news for smaller employers, charities and not-for-profit organisations in particular. There are still many ways in which they can compete against the finances of larger businesses. For example, benefit packages show an investment in people and can demonstrate the company’s values and culture. From a financial perspective, they can save employees significant amounts of money and provide financial security and reassurance in times of distress, such as if they were to become too ill to work. Wellbeing benefits have the combined advantage of helping people to stay fit and healthy while also offering real support if ever needed, like fast access to medical services or counselling. Plus lifestyle benefits including agile working, opportunities to reduce commuting times or additional annual leave, can all help people to balance their work and home life. All of these can be significant points of difference when high-calibre employees are choosing between two possible job offers. 

Quick and positive recruitment experiences

Good people are being snapped up extremely quickly, so it tends to be businesses which can act fast that come out on top. Does this mean they are putting themselves at risk of bad hiring decisions by rushing? When advising our clients on the need for speed we still reinforce the fact that there should be a robust process in place. What we are emphasising is the necessity to prioritise interviews and decision making, and to remove any unnecessary complications. Otherwise there is a real risk that a preferred candidate will already have accepted another job. Plus, more so than ever in a candidate short market, recruitment becomes a two way process. The best people will have the confidence to walk away from an organisation if they are not impressed. Employers may not have control over how many other interviews a good candidate is going for, but they do have the chance to check that they are delivering the best possible experience at every stage and are not missing any opportunities to highlight why people should want to work for their organisation.

Employer brand and strong recruitment marketing

We see every day how businesses that haven’t genuinely invested in their employer brand find it harder to attract the best people. This is reinforced by a recent LinkedIn survey which revealed that 75% of applicants now consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job. Through our Best Employers Initiative and sponsorship of Best Employer awards, it has been fantastic to see so many organisations in our region genuinely investing in creating a strong employer brand. It is clear that business leaders are recognising the importance of this when it comes to competing for, and retaining, high-calibre employees. Those who are passionate about developing their organisation’s workplace environment, engagement levels and overall employer brand can register to join us at the launch event of Best Employers Eastern Region 2020. This will once again be a great opportunity to come together with like-minded business leaders and to share expert advice and best practice examples. Once businesses have a strong employer brand in place, they can go on to adopt a marketing approach to recruitment. Every touchpoint a prospective employee may engage with is a chance to actively promote the positives of working for your company and to share more about your culture and employee value proposition.

An open mind

With candidates in high demand, it can sometimes be almost impossible to find someone who ticks every single box. Does that mean employers should put recruitment on hold and keep waiting for the ‘perfect’ candidate? We are working with clients to review what really is essential criteria and what is just desirable. After all, what makes a really good, talented employee? In most cases it is about the right attitude. If you can find someone who is the right fit for your organisation, who shares your values, is engaged with your organisation’s purpose and who will thrive in your workplace culture, you are likely to have found a high-calibre recruit. Additional skills and experience can be learnt on the job, roles can be adapted and different working patterns can be offered to suit someone’s situation. Employers who are open minded to the idea of making a role work for the right person or investing in training and developing people to meet all the criteria have the opportunity to create their own top talent. In return, they are more likely to be rewarded with engaged, loyal employees who want to stay and progress with the business. Considering that retaining high calibre employees is currently just as much of a challenge as recruiting them, the long-term benefits should not be underestimated.  

Seek expert support

When businesses are trying to hire specialist positions in a tough recruitment market, our consultants can really add value and make a difference. Our specialist sector knowledge is the primary reason why companies choose to work with us. As expert consultants in their different disciplines, our team invests time in developing and maintaining a strong network of contacts. This dedicated focus connects us to the best people and enables us to source high-quality and ‘hard to find’ candidates.

If you would like support in finding the very best people and reviewing your recruitment processes and packages in 2020, contact us for a chat.

What Is An Annual Plan

Quarter four is a great time to reflect and celebrate our successes in the past year. I am sure, no matter what the climate has been, there will be something you and your business should be proud of over the previous three quarters. Of course, in business, nothing ever stays the same and now we must look to the future. What is the next success, the next improvement project, the next big win. Ultimately, what is the plan. We can outline this with, you guessed it, an annual plan.

An annual plan takes into consideration all of these questions and pulls it together into next years strategy document. It will generally include:

• This years financials, outlooks to year end and bridging financials to the end of next year.
• Details around these bridging financials and the action plan to get there, with a sales focus.
• Marketing, Product and People strategy for the next year.
• Major projects expected within the business.

This is all great information, but in my opinion, the real key to a truly successful annual plan document is how many people read it,  add to it, discuss it and believe in it. Here’s why.

Setting The Vision

The job of any great leader is, at its core, very simple. It is to ensure the team around them have the tools and focus to deliver the next business success. A great leader facilitates progress. Correct? That focus comes from defining where we are today (financials for the end of the year, structure etc.) where we want to get to tomorrow (next year end financials, major project results etc.) and how we are going to get there – this is the where an annual plan comes into its own.

An annual plan shouldn’t be a document produced solely for the management team to refer to. It should be a living document that employees can use to understand and see how they are needed to deliver these next steps.

If we make our teams feel part of the future and that their involvement is needed, we create a sense of belonging and obligation to delivering these results.

The Annual Plan is created to set the vision, the targets and outline the vehicles for delivering the next phase of business iteration. It is a living, breathing document that should be understood, embraced and discussed by all members of the business. Areas We Will Focus On

If you are looking for a post that outlines, “what to include in a strategy planning document” – this mini series isn’t for you. You can check out a list of items to include in a strategy document from Forbes. Whilst undoubtedly interesting and certainly useful, I personally don’t agree that every element needs to be in every strategy document. After all, we need to articulate this vision across all levels within our business. As always, keeping complex ideas as simple and concise as possible is a winner here. We can save the trudging strategy speak and executables for each individual project, if we really must have them.

In this series, the focus is on how to make this document accessible and relatable. It will cover:

• Finances – keeping the numbers simple and the bridges crossable. 
• Creating Buy-In – opening up the planning process for all to take part (Part 2)
• Organisational Alignment – delivering an annual plan and reviewing it in an agile manner. (Part 2)

If You Only Takeaway One Thing

If your annual plan has been a secret of the boardroom, compiled in darkened rooms alongside closed door conversations, then it probably hasn’t landed well. Creating a disconnect between certain levels of the business that can manifest in micromanagement of projects and individuals.

Of course, some conversations may need to be had and certain elements omitted, but by and large, an annual plan should be something celebrated and delivered to your wider teams. Preferably, including them in the preparation.

Annual Plan Finances Keeping The Numbers Simple

If you want to lose a room, really quickly. I have a way to do it. Without bringing your team on the journey of understanding conversion costs, material margins, return on sales, start talking about these numbers. It will work like a charm. Why you would want to do that though?

In our last post, we talked about how making the annual plan a living and interactive document yields tangible results. In this post, we will talk about making the financial element of the annual plan accessible and informative. Keeping team members on board, but also delivering value.

Work Behind The Scenes

Of course there will be a huge amount of financial work behind the scenes. After all, bridging financials should be the very basis of target setting – we don’t necessarily have to send the entire bridging pack through to every member of the team, nor explicitly detail individual account movements through phasing changes and increases. Each action within the annual plan should have a financial ramification, be it negative due to it being a medium term investment, or positive as the revenue lands this year. Whilst financial diligence is a foundational key to excellent annual planning, the key to a good annual plan is delivering it in a worthwhile manner.

Keeping Delivery Simple

In order to keep entire teams, many of whom are not financial experts, engaged with finances is no easy task. So now your bridging financials are done. All areas of the business is rolled up and you have signed off on the annual plan. It is time to deconstruct the component elements and make them directional and understandable for the rest of your teams.

Here are some guiding principles for delivering that detail.

Keep it to the headline

It’s really easy to get bogged down into the numbers and phasing and profitability, but keep it to a headline. If an account has a new product line, spell out what the revenue growth is over the year. It really can be as simple as, “We are bringing in product X to support customer Y. This is really important to us as a team because over the year we are expecting £XYZ revenue growth from this product into this customer, allowing us to ABC. You can support in ensuring we deliver this by ABC”

In this example, what we have done is kept the numbers simple, relayed what the target is, moved to explain why it is important and then dissolved it down to how an individual is part of this success. The financials are there, and it is accessible on a granular level.

Don’t shy away from more complex theory, just explain it.

If you are on an efficiency drive, or a major project will increase profitability, don’t shy away from the theory. You can include it, but keep it relevant. If for example you are changing supplier of packaging, explain the theory of it.

“Our current supplier costs mean that our variable costs, a cost associated with each additional sale, for packaging, are at 8% of the total sale. If we can reduce this down to 6%, which we think the new supplier can do, that means we have 2% extra profit from each additional sale. That 2% means we can reinvest in XYZ. We need your support to deliver this cost saving, as we know switching suppliers will, in the short term be a change of process and relationships”

Roll it up.

At the end, roll it all up and explain the direction and reiterate how every team member can support. “Over the next year, we are looking to increase our revenue through the plans outlined by £XYZ, that means we will deliver £ABC more profit. We need your support in the following areas… so we can all deliver….”

Rolling everything up is a great way of bringing the entire team together, but also creating empathy between departments of their goals too. Creating a focus every team member can be a part of.

Until Part 2

We hope you enjoyed part one of this blog – stay tuned for part two where we discuss creating buy-in and organisational alignment, where we turn the annual plan from a strategic document, into the reference document for teams that truly understand and can articulate their future.

This blog post was originally published on the Akcela – Management Consultants Norfolk and Cambridgeshire website.

Growing a business seems easier than ever in the age of the internet. However, now that even small business models have the tools and resources to reach a global audience, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t challenges. Overseas expansion can be very appealing for a variety of reasons, but between getting a firm footing in a new location and ensuring that you are compliant with the local laws of your new market can be increasingly complicated. If you are thinking of leveraging your brand as an international concern, then here are some of the key factors that you are going to need to pay attention to.

Cultural Differences and Language Complications

Different populations have different needs and different goals. That means being aware of how your product or service is going to be received in the countries that you plan to expand into. As well as the cultural differences regarding your brand, you will also have to learn how individuals in those countries work. Remember to address:

• Personal space differences
• Cultural context (particularly important for marketing purposes)
• Business relationships and cues
• Communication

There is an etiquette change and language barrier to address if you want the international expansion to be more successful.

Legal Compliance and Issues with Regulation

All countries will have their own set of laws and regulations that you will need to know and adhere to. It can be very useful when entering a new market to get some guidance from companies that have already helped others to break into new audience geographies. If you want to start selling in Australia, then you’ll need to be aware of the local laws that limit your speed of growth, while branching out into Asian territories will require translation services and tighter protection of your assets. If you’re expanding into China, then you’ll need to become a limited liability company. A WFOE in China (Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise) is easy to arrange and can keep your business and your assets more securely protected. As an added benefit you can ensure that can quickly implement the strategy you have in mind.

Packaging and Shipping

This will form the most customer-facing element of your growing business, and you’re going to need to get it right if you want success. Your packaging will need to be localised, as will product user guides. This can increase your costs, so budgeting needs to be very firmly controlled. Remember as well that different countries have different speeds. Spanish businesses close down for siesta and may not be reachable on weekday afternoons, while German brands want prompt and precise service at all times. This means your customer service is going to need to address 24/7 availability. Momentum can be one of the main challenges of global business expansion which is why planning out each step of your growth and addressing every potential issue with a proactive solution is so critical.

To make overseas success more likely, you need to take a rigorous approach that includes research and action. Make sure that your infrastructure can cope with growth, and can be redirected into your new markets. You will need to take tight control over your costs, but with the potential profits that can come with global growth, it might be easier to balance those costs than you might think.

What is the appeal of Contract Hire?

Armed with its enticing benefits, it is no wonder Contract Hire is fast becoming a hot topic within the automotive industry AND an increasingly popular finance option! Simon Meredith, Business Development Manager of Chatsbrook, states that “Contract Hire represents an agreement between two parties to lease a vehicle (car or van) for a set time period (and mileage) at a fixed monthly cost. To explain it simply, Contract Hire operates in the same vein as your mobile phone contract- you pay a fixed amount every month for a set amount of time and at the end of the agreement you can look for another arrangement to enjoy the latest release.”

“Contract Hire (CH) has many advantages, although we have completed many personal signups for CH, we often find that this long-term rental agreement is favoured by VAT registered businesses such as sole traders, partnerships and limited companies. The main appeal for these types of businesses is that CH reduces the financial risk of owning a vehicle. For example, VAT registered businesses can claim back 50% of VAT on cars and 100% on vans- if the vehicle is solely used within the business then the asset can appear off-balance sheet meaning that you can claim it as a business expense! Secondly, CH protects you from depreciation since you never own it or have the responsibility to sell- you just hand it back at the end. Finally, there is an option to upgrade to a package that includes maintenance and repairs. Upgrading to this option can help to reduce unexpected motoring costs- all you would need to do is insure the car and pay for petrol!”

“Personal Contract Hire (PCH) is definitely a growing segment of the industry as it is a risk-free way to enjoy brand new cars every three or so years. The flexible contract duration and mileage rates ensure that the agreement is perfectly suited to all your requirements. Another benefit is that there is no large initial outlay for the vehicle, highlighting how PCH helps to make new vehicles financially viable and obtainable to individuals.”

With Contract Hire, you can enjoy incredible cars such as these…

Contact Click here to see.

If you have your heart set on a new car and are still not sure which finance arrangement could benefit you most, our friendly team would be happy to help! Call the office on 01603 733500 today!

If you’re running a small business, I am sure you would like to be able to continuously inspire your customers, increase sales and ensure good cashflow in your business. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur – why wouldn’t you want those things?!

When I first set up my business, I was unaware of many of the points that are discussed in this video. At the time, I thought people would naturally want to buy from me – I was wrong.

So I wanted to share these points with you now so that you can enjoy greater success with your own small business today.

The 4 tips outlined in this video will give you 4 simple strategies for how you can speak to your potential customers in person and through your marketing. I want you to be able to gain skills you need to talk emotively about your business in a way that inspires your customers.

The Association for Family lawyers, Resolution, found that 46% of cohabiting couples wrongly believe “common-law marriage” laws exist for couples who choose not to marry. As part of their annual Awareness Week, Resolution is focusing on the need for legal reform, to provide at least basic rights for cohabiting couples who separate. Between 25 – 29 November 2019, they will be campaigning on, and raising awareness of, the issues facing our ‘cohabitation nation’.

The fastest growing family type

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the fastest growing family type in 2017 was cohabiting households, with 3.3 million cohabiting families compared to just 1.5 million in 1996. This equates to 1 in every 5 families in the UK.

Many couples starting a family together now choose to delay marriage or avoid it altogether.

Legal disadvantages

There are legal disadvantages, however, for unmarried couples. The law does not currently offer protection for cohabiting couples in the same way as for married couples.

Whilst particularly relevant in unfortunate cases where a relationship breaks down, there are also implications for couples who wish to stay together.

Rights upon the break down of an unmarried relationship

It is possible for a couple to live together for many years and bring up children together, but at the end of the relationship not to have any financial claim for income or assets built up during the relationship.

Other cohabitation issues

As opposed to rights after marriage, a cohabitee is not legally classed as the next of kin. If one partner were to die without making a Will, the surviving partner is not classed as next of kin, so they would not automatically have a right to a share of a property or possessions.

Financially speaking, in certain circumstances, there are some tax advantages to marriage that don’t apply in the same way for unmarried couples. This and further issues are explained in a good article on the Citizens Advice Bureau website, ‘Living together and marriage: Legal differences.’

Providing protection

Via Resolution and other lobby groups, there is a movement to persuade MPs to consider updating the law around cohabitation to catch up with the change in society.

There are also some steps individuals and cohabiting couples can take to protect themselves in advance of anything going wrong, including:

1. A Cohabitation or Living Together Agreement can detail issues including who pays the bills, the operation of bank accounts and how any property should be divided should the relationship end in the future.
2. Before any property is jointly purchased, a Declaration of Trust can set out how sale proceeds will be divided in the future if you split up, for example.
3. Making a Will, to detail your wishes regarding your dependants and property.

Richard Dilks is a specialist Norwich Family Law solicitor at Hatch Brenner on Theatre Street. He is a member of Resolution, and can provide advice to those who are planning on cohabiting or are in a cohabiting relationship. Call 01603 660 811, or email [email protected]

(Nicola says) After 2 months of the SEO campaign starting we noticed a positive shift in Google traffic. Daniel was on hand all he way offering explanations in a very easy to understand fashion. We have moved up from page 8 to page 1 and sales have started to increase week on week. We are delighted with Daniel and his team and would recommend them for everyone in Norfolk.  

Brief Summary: Established business selling personalised letters from Santa. Targeting parents and grandparents in the UK. Price point of £8.95. The brief to build a brand online and increase awareness and visibility to increase seasonal sales.

Conclusion: One happy family

Freebridge Community Housing employees helped to collect nearly 400 boxes of food donations for the King’s Lynn Foodbank last week.

Six people from across the organisation spent time at the Tesco stores at Hardwick and Gaywood as part of their charitable support leave, a day which all Freebridge employees can take to voluntarily support local charities within the community.

The team were handing out leaflets with shopping lists on to explain to shoppers exactly what the foodbank needs, with the list including items they are in urgent need of such as squash and long life juice in small containers, tinned rice pudding, sponge pudding, UHT and long life milk and tinned meat.

Helen Gilbert from King’s Lynn Foodbank said: “The volunteers from Freebridge made a massive difference – the more leaflets get handed out, the more food we get in, and without their support we’d have been without any help for large parts of the collection, so big thanks to them and to Freebridge for allowing them to come along.”

Birgit Lenton, Director of Corporate Service and Culture at Freebridge said: “Every year Freebridge’s employees choose a charity to support throughout the year, and this year they chose the King’s Lynn Foodbank. We are delighted that our colleagues have been able to help such an important charity at a time of year when they are more needed than ever.”

If you’d like to donate to the King’s Lynn Foodbank you can find details of what to give and where to take it at www.kingslynn.foodbank.org.uk

How to Differentiate Your Business | Start With Why   When you are running a small enterprise, differentiating your business from your competition is essential. Positioning yourself differently within a market can help you stand out from the competition and provide you with the opportunity to really inspire your customers.    Cutting your prices is definitely not how to make your business stand out from the crowd. We all have bills to pay and there will always be someone that’s cheaper than you at some point anyway.    And there’s nothing more depressing than spending an entire month working your socks off only to find your bank balance is still at 0. Trust me, I’ve been there, and it’s a downhill spiral once you’ve made that decision.   So we need answers to the following questions:  1) How to differentiate your brand. 2) How to differentiate your business.    The good news is, it is likely you already possess one of the key ingredients you need to make your business stand out. All we need to do is reveal it and articulate it.    And to do that, all we need is Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’.    Watch the video to find how.   ________   The Native Origin channel provides a small business toolbox – in other words, everything you could possibly need – to gain the essential DIY skills to maximise the success of your small business. The aim of this channel is to give you all of the things I wish I knew when I set up my small business.    So SUBSCRIBE now to be notified the moment new videos go live.

Tudor Lodge Consultants is happy to announce that we are doing SEO for a new tea start-up called Nutra Tea. Based in Hemel Hempstead near London, the company are experts in nutritious but finely crafted herbal teas, which have been formulated in order to provide a number of health benefits without compromising on quality or flavour.

The ingredients have been selected and sourced from over 20 countries in order to provide the finest quality tea. Each tea in the range is made up of 100% raw ingredients with zero additives – compared to regular teas which may only include a small percentage of ginger or mint, but are loaded with our flavours and sweeteners to improve flavour.

Job specification

Our role as SEO professionals is to help maximise visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing and ultimately lead to sales.

We created a long list of keywords to target such as ginger tea, herbal tea, mint tea etc, but appreciate the high competition from other retailers and top supermarket brands.

Therefore, we compiled a long list of long tail keywords to be more specific and target the uses of the products including ‘tea of anxiety,’ ‘tea for stress’ and ‘tea to boost energy’ which we have curated through a number of effective guides and landing pages.

Our SEO approach for Nutra Tea

Links: our team understands the importance of having strong links in order to improve a firm’s Google ranking. Consequently, we have focused on ensuring that Nutra Tea has reputable links with a number of trustworthy websites. Not only does this make it easier for Google to crawl the site, but it also improves the startup’s SEO ranking as well.

Content writing: We have also been writing content for Nutra Tea to help solidify its reputation in the health sector as well as to a larger audience base overall. We have shared this content to be featured on a variety of websites in the field to help improve the company’s rankings.

Technical SEO: In addition we have ensured that content has been carefully structured, so that it adheres to  our SEO guidelines. This includes things such as making sure to use relevant topic titles, H2 headings as well as internal links on any article we write for Nutra Tea.

In month one, you can only really expect to rank for your brand name and maybe the odd long-term keyword. However, as the weeks progress and we reach the 3, 6 and 12 month stage, we expect the brand to start pushing to page 1 for some larger terms and generating quality sales.

During the first few years of business, small companies have to face a lot of challenges. Some of them are harder to overcome, while many can be resolved effectively. In fact, many common business problems are fixable such as generating leads, finding customers, building an email list, hiring talented staff, balancing growth and quality. To resolve all these issues, you just require to take the right steps. Below in this article, we’ve mentioned a few main problems most small companies face. Read them all, take your time, understand these issues, and introduce solutions accordingly.

Finding Customers

Every business needs to make an effort in order to grab the attention of their customers. Marketers of world-renowned companies such as Apple, Toyota, and McDonald’s don’t just sit around and wait for their customers to come they work every day to find and attract new customers. However, for small businesses, especially the one that just started, finding customers can be a very challenging task. To find customers, first, you need to understand who your ideal customers are. Once you’ve done that, you have to build your buyer persona and then start creating content to reach your customers effectively.

Cash Flow

Being a business owner, you need to understand that poor cash flow can potentially break your business. According to the report, every one out of four firms could not even complete their first year, and over half don’t survive past the fifth. While investing money in your business is necessary, you must generate profit as well. You need to keep a hard eye on cash flowing in and out of your business. Plus, you need to make sure that you collect all the payments on time so that you are not just investing money. For this, you need to make sure that you receive payments from those who have bought your products on lease. If they don’t pay you money on time, then you can contact any debt collector to ask for advice. Click here to learn more about debt collection through legal processes.

Lack of Communication

While business communication has improved in different ways, many issues are still unsolved. These problems can have a significant influence on your business performance and key stakeholders, including workers, customers, and third-party vendors. Some of the most common communication barriers that your small business can face are missing important calls, lack of communication with stakeholders, and disconnected employees. In order to make sure proper interaction between employees and stakeholders, you need to introduce practices that can eliminate these communication barriers.

Spreading Brand Awareness

Have you ever wondered how today’s most prominent brands become a household name? How do they do it? How did they grow that rapidly? Can your business make progress like that? Why not! It is essential to understand that nobody gains success overnight. Behind every successful business, there are failures, hard work, and rejections. To build and promote your company, you need to spread your business message. You can do that through PR, co-marketing, and blogging. These strategies have proven to be beneficial for businesses of all scales.

Liftshare CEO calls transport sector’s efforts to reduce emissions ’embarrassing’ live on BBC Breakfast television

Liftshare Founder and CEO, Ali Clabburn, was interviewed on BBC Breakfast in the run up to the forthcoming General Election.

Speaking at the John Innes Centre in Norwich for the BBC’s flagship morning news programme’s coverage of how national issues are effecting business, Ali was invited onto BBC Breakfast to give his opinion on what government should be taking about when it comes to transport.

“Sadly transport is now THE most emitting sector. It produces more emissions than any other sector. The energy sector has reduced emissions by 60% in the last 20-30 years and the transport sector has done nothing and it’s embarrassing really.

There are plenty of things we could do right now to overcome this problem and sharing a is a key solution.”

Asked for his views on what he wanted politicians to be talking about, Ali said, “I want to see them stop pushing things off into the long grass, particularly when the environment is concerned. We’ve got solutions now that could help within the next 2-5 years. They should be investing in Future Mobility Zones across cities in the UK to start getting public and private sectors working together to solve these problems.

Things like more car sharing, more cycling, more walking, more car clubs in cities can help solve the problem really quickly, and if we can get it done now we can really start reducing the emissions and improve the air quality in our cities.

We’re killing 40,000 people due to air quality issues and we can solve it now.”