Norfolk Chamber’s Events Assistant Samantha Brown will be taking to the skies to join domestic violence charity Leeway in a 13,000ft charity Tandem Skydive.
Leeway is a local charity that support over 8000 adults, children and young people every year. “I believe the work they do is vital for people in Norfolk. It’s a charity very close to my heart who I’ve even had the pleasure of working with through my current job role.”
After making the jump, Sam will be falling at about 120mph, descending to 5,000 feet in around 40 seconds. The skydive will be taking place at Beccles airfield on Sunday 20th March.
Downing Street sources have said that National parliaments will get new powers to block “unwanted” EU law as part of the UK’s renegotiations with Brussels. To trigger the so-called “red card”, at least 55% of the EU’s national parliaments would have to join forces.
The measure is expected to be included in the draft deal being presented by EU Council president Donald Tusk later today.
Downing Street sources said David Cameron had “delivered on a manifesto commitment” to secure the “explicit agreement”, which could be activated up to 12 weeks after a new law had been proposed. But the Vote Leave campaign said it was a “trivial” proposal which would do little to restore power to the UK.
Mr Tusk’s draft agreement, to be put forward on today (Tuesday 2 February 2016), follows months of talks between UK and EU officials. It has not received final agreement from other EU leaders, who will gather for a summit on 18 and 19 February. If agreement is secured at the summit, it could pave the way for the UK’s in-out referendum to be held in June.
But Mr Tusk warned of “outstanding issues” as he announced his plan to circulate the draft “new settlement”.
These are thought to include objections to Mr Cameron’s bid to curb the welfare entitlement of EU migrants.
He has proposed denying in-work benefits to all EU migrants until they have been in the UK for four years, saying this would reduce high levels of immigration to the UK.
Commenting on the draft EU deal announced today by European Council President Donald Tusk, John Longworth, BCC Director General, said:
“While Brussels-watchers will pore over every draft and every statement, most business people will want to wait to see a final UK-EU deal before assessing carefully the impact on their businesses and their vote. A lot can change in the weeks ahead. Like others, we will be evaluating these proposals against the Prime Minister’s initial letter to Mr Tusk, and against the business priorities we have articulated.”
As part of the British Chambers of Commerce’s ongoing research programme into business sentiment towards the upcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, the BCC is running amajor poll to measure business attitudes and impacts. The fieldwork for this survey is open until 5February.
The New Anglia Skills Deal Programme is an opportunity for employers, alongside training providers, to seek funding for project proposals that address a gap in – or barrier to accessing – training provision. Skills Deals funding is available to co-fund projects that will raise skill levels, create jobs and drive enterprise and economic growth in Norfolk and Suffolk. Expressions of Interest in this funding are now being invited.
Norwich City Council have released their latest economic barometer. The report highlighted:
Nationally
The Government’s borrowing figure in December 2015 was £4.3bn lower than the year before ONS figures highlighted that UK firms cur their foreign investment by the largest amount in a decade Businesses race more than £1bn in costs from the introduction of the Government-set national living wage UK new car sales hit an all-time record in 2015.
East of England
53% of manufacturers in the East of England have invested in automation and robotics according to a Barclays survey Confidence in this region’s commercial property market remains strong and rents are expected to rise across all sectors Our region’s reputation as one of the country’s most entrepreneurial regions has been bolstered by a recent report by Barclays and BGF Entrepreneurs Index.
Norwich
Shoppers and businesses were handed a major digital boost after free wi-fi was rolled out across Norwich city centre Aviva started 2016 by employing 65 new employees at it claims handling operation at Broadland Business Park Norwich Castle and Norwich Cathedral joined forces with Visit Norwich to promote the city as a tourism destination Norwich International Airport launched new routes from Norwich to Exeter and Newcastle.
On Thursday 28th January we took over 20 lanes at Hollywood Bowl Norwich for a competitive evening, with 150 members joining us for our annual bowling challenge.
The challenge was even bigger this year as we increased the team sizes to 8 per lane, totalling up some high scores. The evening was filled with plenty of laughter and a relaxed atmosphere for delegates to make new connections.
One of the challenges on the night included Hollywood Bowl’s ‘Pink Pin Challenge’. If the pink pin landed in a lane, the next bowler must bowl a strike to win their team a bottle of Prosecco. In the end two teams walked away with this victory, which also saw Peter Bussey of Anglia Business Cleaning win our ‘Most Stylish Bowler’ award for a tremendous strike!
All the bowling action was followed by an incredible buffet provided by the Hollywood Bowl team, and of course the announcement of our winners…
Taking the Super Bowl Challenge 2016 Trophy back to the office was Tank Replacement Services, with an average score of 119.125 (total score 953). The extra decimal place worked in their favour as team Natwest came close second with an average score of 119 (total score 714).
Tank Replacement Services seemed to have a winning streak however as team member Daniel Copplestone won top score of the night with an overall score of 182!
View our photo gallery from the evening here, and this year you can see your scores on the table below!
Overall the evening was enjoyed by all, with some even staying behind for a few extra bowls. Our fun After Hours Series doesn’t stop here though, coming up we have a Cocktail Evening and a Quiz Night Challenge.
Motorists are warned that off-peak temporary traffic lights will be in use on the A140 Aylsham Road (north of Norwich)from Wednesday 3 February for up to two weeks.
This is to allow the construction of a haul route crossing point, just north of the Holt Road (B1149) roundabout,for use byNorwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) construction vehicles. The haul route is being created along the line of the NDR to keep construction vehicles and plant off the surrounding road network. The crossing point involves the construction of a 10m-wide concrete access on each side of the A140.
Drayton Lane and Holly Lane Drayton Lane, a popular local access route between Reepham Road and the B1149 Holt Road at Horsford, will reopen tomorrow morning(Saturday 30th). Clearance work will then move to Holly Lane (the diversion route during the Drayton Lane closure), where three-way traffic lights will be needed off-peak at the junction with the B1149 Holt Road on Monday 1 February and Tuesday 2 February.
Norfolk County Council has apologised for the inconvenience that will be caused by these restrictions.
Marriotts Way reopens in time for weekend
Marriotts Way, which has been closed between Pendlesham Rise and Fir Covert Road, has been reopened in time forthe weekend.
The popular walking, cycling and horse riding routehas beenclosedfor clearance work where it is crossed by the NDR. Although reopening was originallyplanned for today (29th),earlier this week it was thought likely that work would have to continue over the weekend.
Eventually Marriotts Way will go over the NDR on a purpose-built’green bridge’, and access along the path will not be possible when construction gets underway later this year.
The re-opening of Marriotts Way will allow the closure of Furze Lane/Breck Farm Lane.Ways of providingtemporary route from Furze Lane to Marriotts Way are being considered, but it is unlikely that this would be able to stay open when the bridge work begins towards the end of the summer.
Further closures of Drayton Lane and Marriotts Way will be needed as construction of the NDR progresses.
On Tuesday 26th January, over 35 delegates joined us to learn about business opportunities in South East Asia at Holiday Inn Norwich. The venue provided a spacious setting where delegates were able to network over tea & coffee, followed by 3 presentations from expert speakers discussing the key areas of trade in South East Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Norfolk Chamber’s International Trade Manager, Julie Austin welcomed delegates to the event and thanked UKTI for sponsoring the event before introducing Ximena Florian, Overseas Business Network Advisor UKTI East of England. Ximena explained to delegates who the Overseas Business Network are and what services they can provide to UK companies.
Next up we had Anh Luong, Vietnam Overseas Business Network Partner who went into great detail about what Vietnam and Malaysia are looking to invest in. Anh explained whilst sectors such as education, retail, manufacturing are great opportunities to the UK there are still challenges which companies will face when trading with these areas.
We then took a short break and treated delegates to tea and cake to help them process the information just received.
The second half of the event was spilt into two more presentations in which Ximena Florian covered trading opportunities in Indonesia and Singapore, followed by a presentation from Roy Dallison, UK Representative of the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines, who discussed the opportunities the Philippines offer and also shared some success stories of UK companies trading in the area.
We closed the event with a short Q&A, after which, many delegates took this opportunity to talk further with the speakers and get in some final networking to make those all-important contacts.
Two significant road closures in Great and Little Plumstead are planned to allow work to continue on Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR).
Middle Road will be closed from Monday 1 February to Monday 8 February, but will reopen as soon as the site clearance and tree felling works allow. This reopening is to ensure there is no clash with the proposed closure of Plumstead Road, which is the diversion route.
The closure of Middle Road, from Green Lane North to the junction of C258 Hare Road, is needed to allow safe completion of site clearance, in particular tree felling, on the line of the new dual carriageway. It will reopen as soon as safe to do so, but a longer term closure of Middle Road (details to follow) will be necessary to allow more substantial work on the NDR, and for the construction of the bridge that will carry Middle Road over the new road. Once the bridge is complete, expected to be in late 2017, Middle Road will be able to reopen.
Norfolk County Council is currently consulting on the closure of Plumstead Road for up to 18 days to allow utility service diversions across Plumstead Road. A closure is required by Network Rail because of the risk of the works causing traffic to queue across the level crossing on the Norwich to Sheringham railway line.
The current proposal is for the closure of a150m stretch of Plumstead Road, between the railway crossing and the junction of Broad Lane,to begin on Monday 22 February, but this is subject to no overriding issues being raised during the current local consultation. Middle Road will remain open while Plumstead Road is closed.
Norfolk County Council has apologised for any inconvenience caused by these and other closures and traffic management measures during construction of Norwich Northern Distributor Road. Forregularupdates, anyone can sign up to receive the Transport Matters and Transport Matters NDR Extra newsletters by emailing[email protected].
On Thursday 21st January, 70 Norfolk Chamber members joined us for a Business Breakfast at the Great Yarmouth racecourse. The Victory Suite provided a spacious setting where delegates could network over coffee and breakfast upon arrival.
Following a slightly different format to our usual business breakfasts, delegates were led through ‘How to Network Successfully’ by Ian Hacon, Yellowbrick Road Solutions.
After a brief introduction, Ian asked delegates to create their ‘Twit Pitch’. Restricted to a maximum of 140 characters, a ‘Twit Pitch’ creates a concise and straight to the point pitch which was then put into practice during a twist on the popular activity; Safari Networking.
Trialed for the first time at this breakfast, delegates participated in ‘Speed’ Safari Networking. With everyone on their feet in an open space, delegates had 4 safari moves with 6 minutes at each station allowing them the opportunity to network with up to 24 different people. The activity was a great success with many saying they’d run out of business cards!
Another trial run at New Year Networking, was the addition of a Networking App; Presdo Match. Accessible only by event delegates, Presdo Match creates an interactive networking experience. Attendees can view a visual delegate list complete with images and bios pulled directly from Linkedin, send messages to others via a secure messaging system and schedule appointments, making following up after the event quick and easy. Following great feedback of the app, we will continue to implement it’s use at future events.
The UK Government has committed to holding an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) by the end of 2017. In November 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron outlined his proposals for reform in a letter to the President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The four objectives for the Prime Minister’s renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the European Union were:
Ensuring that steps to further financial union cannot be imposed on non-Eurozone countries, such as the UK
Boosting competitiveness by setting a target for the reduction of the “burden” of red tape
Exempting Britain from “ever-closer union” and enhancing national parliaments’ ability to block EU legislation
Restricting EU migrants’ access to in-work benefits such as tax credits
A response to David Cameron’s letter was received in December. The main sticking point has been opposition from countries including Hungary and Poland to the idea of the four year ban on claiming some UK benefits. The message from the rest of the EU is that there cannot be a policy which discriminates against other EU nationals.
As the Prime Minister tours Europe highlighting Britain’s stance and looking to drum up support from other EU leaders, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) will be once again polling Chamber members across the UK to find out what the local business communities think about the EU Referendum. This will enable the British Chambers of Commerce to understand business views on reform of the EU, and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. You can have your sayhere.
The results of a previous BCC poll on the EU Referendum, held in August 2015, highlighted that if an in-out referendum were to be held immediately, 63% of businesspeople would vote to remain in the European Union, 27% would vote to leave, and 10% are unsure. Yet fully 50% said their vote could change depending on David Cameron’s renegotiation package.
The survey period is from Monday 25 January 2015 to Thursday 04 February 2015 and the results will be published a few weeks later.
Apprenticeship Providers Bring New Prospects to Local Businesses in Norfolk.
3aaa Norwich, one of the Apprenticeship Providers newest academies have been making a great deal of noise in the vibrant city, by bringing exciting new career prospects to local young people and by providing an excellent service to a whole host of local businesses.
The Ofsted Grade 1 National Training providers, who specialise in the delivery of IT, Digital Marketing, Accountancy and Business Administration Apprenticeships continue to make an impact by bringing life changing opportunities to the local community.
The Norwich Academy, recent winners of Training Provider of the Year 2015, would like to welcome all interested young people and local employers to drop into their academy throughout National Apprenticeship Week* if they wish to discuss future Apprenticeship opportunities. An open day event will take place at some point during this week which will allow all interested parties the chance to ask questions and see how the academy works. This event shall give all attendees a thorough insight into the world of Apprenticeships.*National Apprenticeship week March 14th to March 18 2016
In early 2015, 3aaa joined forces with Norwich City FC as a way of continuing to use the ‘power of sport’ to help change the lives of young people and engage with the local community. The partnership has been a complete success and it has highlighted the work both parties do to help nurture and encourage talented young people.
Further to the courses the academy specialise in, they also offer Traineeships and Trailblazer programmes for learners, which are set to be programmes of key interest in 2016. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please call the Norwich team directly on 01603 660 995, email [email protected], visit our website at 3aaa.co.uk or alternatively if you would rather visit us in person we would be more than happy to offer you help and advice:
A public consultation has now opened to gather views on a proposed merger of Great Yarmouth College, Lowestoft College and Lowestoft Sixth Form College.
The vision set out by the three colleges is to create a new, three-campus institution, under the name ‘East Coast Colleges Group’. This would see each campus maintain its name, individual strengths and specialisms, but come together under one new, overarching organisation.
This proposed merger is as a result of the three colleges participating in a pioneering area review in 2015. This was designed to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by those delivering post-16 education in the local area and to address ways to protect and enhance the provision available.
The discussions raised through the review have led to the proposal to create a combined college group. It is proposed that the merger would result in the colleges being better equipped to deliver a full range of vocational and traditional academic courses, with integrated degree level opportunities, while maintaining a more solid financial footing at a time when public funding is under increasing pressure.
The overall aim is to preserve and expand the excellent academic offer of Lowestoft Sixth Form College and the much-valued technical and professional education and training of both Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Colleges. By coming together the colleges will be able to capitalise on their individual strengths and become more resilient, and better able to face the challenges ahead. The attached consultation document sets out in more detail the background to the proposal, the reasons for the merger and the benefits and opportunities available.
They believe this proposal offers Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth a forward-thinking plan which addresses the needs of local students, parents and employers, and which will act as a catalyst for local and regional economic prosperity. Now we would like to give you the opportunity to have your say. We want to work together to shape the best possible future for our colleges, and for all those who depend on them for a great future.
Your views are extremely important to them and will be given full consideration before any final decisions are made by the colleges. They would welcome your responses to the following questions:
Do you agree that by merging, the three colleges will be able to more effectively meet the needs of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft’s students, communities and employers?
If ‘yes’, what specific advantages can you see?
If ‘no’, please indicate what you see as the potential disadvantages
Are there any areas that you would particularly wish to see addressed through the merger, e.g. local needs that are inadequately represented under current arrangements?
How might you or your organisation be involved in or support this merger?
Are there any other comments you would like us to take into consideration?
Alternatively you are welcome to email your responses to [email protected] or write to them at: East Coast Colleges Group Consultation, C/O FOUR Agency, Hill House, 20 Hill House Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 4BE.
The deadline for responses is 5pm on Friday 19 February 2016.