Chamber News

Work starting on Norwich inner ring road’s Grapes Hill on Monday, 28 April, heralds a summer of changes that will transform access to the city centre for buses, and bring improvements for pedestrians and cyclists on busy shopping streets.

The construction of a bus lane up Grapes Hill, creation of a new access route into the city centre via Chapel Field North, and the removal of general traffic (except buses, taxis and bicycles) from Rampant Horse Street, St Stephen’s and part of Surrey Street have been welcomed by bus operators. The changes are expected to be in place before Christmas shopping begins in earnest.

The work on Grapes Hill is to create a southbound (uphill) bus lane, in addition to the two general traffic lanes. This will allow buses to avoid queues at the Grapes Hill roundabout.

The work is being carried out for Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council by Lafarge Tarmac and will take around 12 weeks to complete. Grapes Hill will remain open, but lane closures will be required and the councils apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.

The Grapes Hill project will be followed by the Chapel Field North and St Stephen’s schemes. These will create a new route into the city centre for buses, taxis and cycles, and remove general traffic from Rampant Horse Street (between Debenhams and Marks & Spencer), St Stephen’s Street and Surrey Street (from St Stephen’s to All Saints Green).

Changes that make this possible include:

• Making Chapel Field North two-way, with a 20mph speed limit and general traffic only allowed as far as the Chantry Car Park. (Buses, taxis and cyclists will be able to carry on into Rampant Horse Street.)
• Removal of the pavement on the southern side of Chapel Field North, but with an improved cycle and pedestrian path inside Chapelfield Gardens and pedestrian crossings to the north side pavement
• Two-way traffic on Cleveland Road from Grapes Hill Roundabout, allowing the closure of Little Bethel Street to vehicles
• Right turn only into Red Lion Street at the bottom of Westlegate for general traffic, so that it cannot cross into Rampant Horse Street.

The construction programme for the Chapel Field North and St Stephen’s/Surrey Street is still being finalised, but work will finish before the important pre-Christmas period. Work on Chapel Field North may begin before Grapes Hill is complete.

Altogether the three linked projects will cost around £1.7M. The Grapes Hill and St Stephen’s schemes are being largely paid for through the Department for Transport’s Better Bus Area Fund. The Chapel Field North scheme is funded by Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, developer contributions (Section 106) and Growth Point Funding (via the Greater Norwich Development Partnership).

David Harrison, Norfolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Development & Waste, said: “These are important Transport for Norwich projects that will make it quicker and easier for buses to get into the city centre, and at the same time improve important shopping streets for pedestrians. The Government’s Better Bus Area fund is making an important contribution to the cost, and has also helped us develop a range of other improvements, including the ‘holdall’ smartcard ticket for Park and Ride, improved bus information and measures such as bus priority at traffic lights, and business travel packs. The aim is to make bus travel people’s first choice because it is high quality, reliable and easy to use.”

Steve Wickers, Commercial Director Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk for FirstGroup plc, said: “The changes to Norwich City Centre’s traffic network are welcomed by First and demonstrate what can be achieved through partnership working between local authorities, operators and other key stakeholders.

“The improvements to Chapelfield North in particular will allow us to reroute our busy Blue Line services which link the Station, City Centre and University, offering a more direct journey with fewer delays. The changes are good news for Norwich, as bus passengers will benefit from improved reliability of services encouraging more people to use the bus.”

Julian Patterson, Managing Director of Konectbus/Anglianbus, said: “These significant improvements to bus flow in the city centre will further enhance the appeal of bus travel by enabling quicker access to shops and businesses and removing some of the timetable unpredictability by not sharing road space with car park queues.”

• The Prime Minister and Chancellor welcome over 200 infrastructure projects due to start in 2014/2015

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are visit a transport infrastructure project today to see the action the Government is taking to help hardworking people and to back businesses with better infrastructure being delivered on the ground. They will highlight that, as part of this Government’s long-term economic plan to help Britain succeed, more than 200 projects in rail, road, local transport, flood defences, broadband, airport infrastructure and waste management are due to start construction in 2014/15. These include the Mersey Gateway Bridge, Sheffield Lower Don Valley and Exeter flood defence schemes and the A1 Barton to Leeming motorway upgrade, which will reduce journey times by 20 per cent.

More than 200 infrastructure projects are also due to be completed this year, including projects in Norfolk such as the A47 Honingham Roundabout Expressway; the A12 – A143 Link Road in Great Yarmouth; and the refurbishment of the flood gates at King’s Lynn Fisher Fleet. Click here for a full list of the projected infrastructure starts and completions for the East of England in 2014-2015.

The projects due to start construction this year are part of £36bn of planned investment – £5bn public investment, £21bn private investment and £10bn in joint public and private investment – in infrastructure across the country that could support over 150,000 jobs in construction and many thousands more in other sectors following completion. This includes the start of a £38 billion programme of rail spending over the next five years. In addition, there is expected to be further investment of up to £15bn in oil and gas this year.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Ensuring Britain has first class infrastructure is a crucial part of our long term economic plan: supporting business, creating jobs and providing a better future for hardworking people. As a crucial part of our long-term economic plan, this Government is backing business with better infrastructure so that more jobs and opportunities are created for hardworking people, meaning more financial security and peace of mind for families.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “As part of our long term economic plan we are investing in infrastructure around the country to create a more balanced, resilient economy. Because of the tough decisions we have taken in day to day spending, we can prioritise public investment where it is most needed and create the right conditions for private investment in infrastructure where it brings value for the taxpayer. So this year over 200 new projects worth an estimated £36 billion are due to start, creating thousands of jobs, securing future growth and delivering the world class infrastructure Britain deserves.”

Throughout this parliament, the Government has consistently made tough decisions on day-to-day spending that have enabled the prioritisation of vital capital investment. In June 2013 the Government built on this approach by setting out a further commitment to invest in over £100 billion of capital in specific projects in the next parliament, including providing long-term funding settlements in key infrastructure sectors.

The Government has also taken radical action to unlock and stimulate private sector investment, which is expected to make up the majority of UK infrastructure investment between now and the end of the decade. This has included setting out a plan to generate a wave of new investment in our energy infrastructure through the biggest change to the electricity market since privatisation, and the provision of up to £40 billion of support for critical infrastructure projects through the UK Guarantees Scheme.

The Norfolk Rail Taskforce have issued the first in what will be a regular series of briefing notes, to keep stakeholders fully updated on progress with the work of the Rail Taskforce. They hope it will be used widely to cascade information to organisations and individuals’ networks.

Equally important, will be feedback to inform the discussion and debate on options, and to provide evidence of the economic imperative for investment in improving our train services.

The work of the Taskforce is crucial for all business and leisure travellers. It is fundamental to the future of the Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk economies, to ‘UKplc’ and to the thousands of businesses located in the three counties who want to compete and win in the UK/EU and global marketplace.

The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of this project at PMQ’s in the House of Commons on Wednesday 2nd April: Chloe Smith: It is as quick to go 225 miles over land and sea from here to Brussels as it is to go half the distance on the train to Norwich. Does my right hon. Friend agree that East Anglia needs investment in better, faster rail infrastructure and that the Norwich in 90 taskforce will bring benefits to businesses and passengers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex?

The Prime Minister: I pay tribute to my Hon. Friend and others for the work they are doing on the Norwich in 90 taskforce. This is a very important project. I welcome the interest shown by business leaders, local authorities and enterprise partnerships. East Anglia is one of the fastest-growing parts of our country and it has world-class companies and universities. Better transport will support and bolster that growth and I look forward to the taskforce report that I know she is working on. I hope that it will be used to shape the specification for the long rail franchise, which should start in 2016. We look forward to working with you in coming months. Chloe Smith MP Mark Pendlington Joint Chairs, Rail Taskforce

To read the full briefing click here.

As a follow up to the Norfolk Chamber’s ‘Audience with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’ event on the 7 November, we submitted a number of questions from our members to the Chancellor. Responses to those questions are now starting to be received from the relevant Ministers within Westminster.

Jonathan Woolston is Managing Partner at Larking Gowen, one of the Chambers longest standing members.

Jonathan’s question to the Chancellor was:

“Every year a significant number of small unincorporated businesses set up in Norfolk which do not get the same tax breaks as a Limited Company, why is there such a distinction and are there any plans to encourage these micro businesses further, without the need to incorporate?”

Find on the attached document the written response from the HM Treasury.

The Skills Service is looking for around 150 businesses from Peterborough, Fenland, Rutland and West Norfolk and the surrounding areas to showcase their industry at the Careers Festival on the Peterborough Embankment on 10th July.

Supported by The Skills Show, the European Social Fund and the National Careers Service, the Festival aims to help young people consider their career options, raise their aspirations and ensure they have the right skills needed to gain employment in the local area.

Last year the event was attended by more than 100 businesses and training providers and over 2000 young people. Following positive feedback from both exhibitors and visitors the 2014 event is being extended to a much wider geographical area, offering a bigger and more extensive experience.

Free to exhibit, businesses are invited to offer interactive ‘have a go’ style activities to give a taster of what it might be like to work in their sector and to talk to young people about the types of jobs they could aspire to.

To book or find out more, please contact Miranda at Opportunity Peterborough: [email protected].

Norfolk Chamber members are currently being polled for their views on the referendum for Scottish independence by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). The actual referendum will be held in September 2014 and BCC would like to know whether the referendum will impact on your business wherever you are located.

There will be 15 short questions on the poll and your answers will help the BCC and the Accredited Chamber Network to best represent the interests of businesses across Norfolk and the UK in the closing months of the referendum campaign. The poll has been emailed direct from the BCC to all Norfolk Chamber members and will remain open until midnight on 17 April 2014.

Since the last update, more than 40,000 homes and businesses can now receive high speed broadband services as a result of the BBfN programme. Around half of those services have been made available since the start of the year and the programme’s going well.

In the latest ‘batch’ to be announced, parts of Deopham, Filby, Haddiscoe, Herringby, Little Ellingham, Mautby, Morley St Botolph, Rockland All Saints, St Olaves, Stokesby, Thrigby and Wicklewood can now get better broadband. Many more areas will be added to the growing list of towns and villages in which services are available over the next few months. Keep up to date with the latest on: www.betterbroadbandnorfolk.co.uk.

To find out which areas will get better broadband next and to find out more information read the attached update document.

Members from Great Yarmouth Chamber Council debated how the local business community can get involved in helping to support and promote Great Yarmouth’s cultural heritage strategy. The Cultural Heritage Strategy is a five year plan that sets out the strategy for Great Yarmouth. The document is currently under review by the Borough Council.

Laura Crossley, the Heritage and Audience Development Consultant, who has been responsible for reviewing and updating the Strategy, highlighted that for every £1 that a ‘heritage’ tourist spends, 32p is spent on the heritage attraction and the remaining 68p is spent in the wider economy. The latest figures for Great Yarmouth show that there are approximately 3,822,000 day visitors per year, and of those, the heritage visitors spend an average of £43 per day. Therefore if just 10% of the annual visitors were heritage tourists, they would spend nearly £16.5 million, with just over £11 million of that spend being spent in the wider economy. Great Yarmouth has some of the best and most diverse cultural heritage available in the East of England, from museums, such as the Time and Tide; to roman forts; to medieval town walls; not to mention Admiral Lord Nelson.

The members of Great Yarmouth Council were keen to hear how they could help support the Borough Council. Laura advised that support might include helping in terms of sponsorship; volunteering of expertise to help small heritage projects progress; or businesses could help promote the projects by displaying heritage project leaflets etc. If you are a local business who wants to help support the heritage strategy, please contact Nova Fairbank on email: [email protected].

John Morse, President of Great Yarmouth Chamber Council, said “Tourism is extremely important to our region and if the local business community can help to support our cultural heritage projects, this in turn will help attract a greater number of visitors to Great Yarmouth, thereby boosting the local economy. This is especially important, as the heritage tourist spend is an increasing trend that Great Yarmouth should take full advantage of.”

Great Yarmouth Borough Council has now formally submitted their Core Strategy Local Plan document in two parts on Monday 1 April and Monday 7 April 2014 to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Secretary of State) for independent examination.

Copies of all documentation (including representations received in response to the publication consultation September – November 2013) which the Council submitted to the Secretary of State are available for inspection by clicking here.

Hard copies of the evidence documents are also available for inspection at the Council Offices:

Town Hall Hall Plain Great Yarmouth Norfolk NR30 2QF

The Council office opening hours are: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, except for the first Thursday of each month.

The Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State has appointed Inspector Malcolm Rivett BA (Hons) MSc MRTPI to undertake the examination process. The Inspector will be assisted by a Programme Officer, Mrs Annette Feeney. Mrs Feeney is your first point of contact in this matter.

Annette Feeney’s contact details are as follows: Mrs Annette Feeney Programme Officer Strategic Planning, Housing and Regeneration Development Town Hall, Hall Plain Great Yarmouth Norfolk NR30 2QF

Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01493 846 623

For further advice and guidance on the Examination procedure click here or information can be found via the Great Yarmouth Borough Council website: www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk.

The Government’s Regional Growth Fund will invest £300 million in 50 projects across the country to create tens of thousands of jobs and fuel business expansion, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced today.

Today’s funding from Round 5 of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) is expected to unlock £1.9 billion of additional private sector investment and create or safeguard thousands of jobs, while also generating thousands of jobs in the supply chains. The RGF is a Government pot to create sustainable employment and growth in a wide range of sectors across the country. The fund supports areas that are traditionally more reliant on the public sector to increase private sector investment and encourage businesses to expand. This type of targeted investment helps to boost growth throughout the country and rebalance our economy.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

“Today we are investing more than £300 million to create thousands of jobs through the Regional Growth Fund. This is a vital fund that has already helped over 400 projects and 3,500 small and medium sized enterprises.

“This money will help unlock nearly £2 billion of additional private sector investment that will create sustainable and long-term jobs.

“We’re seeing very encouraging signs that the British economy is on the road to recovery. Home-grown and British-based businesses are leading that charge for a stronger economy. The Regional Growth Fund gives businesses a helping hand from Government to fuel business expansion and create sustainable employment.

“When this Coalition Government took office in 2010, the economy was on its knees. I’ve made it a priority to ensure that as the economy recovered, all the regions benefited too. “I pay tribute to the ambitious companies who are using the Regional Growth Fund to create jobs locally, helping to build a stronger economy and doing it fairly.”

Ministers will be visiting RGF projects across England today to see how the fund is helping to rebalance the economy. The Deputy Prime Minister will be in Merseyside where he will visit two companies who have been awarded funding from the RGF:

• At cooker manufacturer Glen Dimplex he will talk to staff about how the company will use their £3 million Round 5 RGF investment to expand their business, creating hundreds of jobs and boost the local economy.
• He will also visit electrical cable manufacturer Tratos to talk to staff about how their RGF Round 4 investment of nearly £3 million is being used to expand the business and create and safeguard about 100 jobs for local people.

Business Secretary Vince Cable will visit automotive specialist Millbrook later today, a successful bidder in Round 5. He said:

“Our Industrial Strategy is creating stable foundations for a sustainable, long-term recovery in which opportunity and growth is fairly spread across the country. The Regional Growth Fund will help increase our exports, expand our capacity for innovation and drive up the quality and range of our skills base and supply chain.

“The awards we’re announcing today like that of Millbrook see every £1 of government funding leveraging in £6 of private capital. They will support sectors from aerospace and automotive to tourism, and the benefits will be felt into the mid 2020s and beyond.”

Business Minister Michael Fallon added:

“As we work to secure the recovery, every new job and every new pay-packet counts. The Regional Growth Fund is about backing companies and sectors that have the vision and capability to create long-term growth, but need extra support to realise this potential.

“We have fine-tuned the fund – improving its governance and getting money into the hands of businesses more quickly – and I’d strongly encourage any firms that can generate significant private sector investment and sustainable jobs to bid for a share of the next round we’re launching this summer.”

Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is looking to recruit an Events Co-ordinator. The ideal candidate should have very good organisational skills and 2-3 years experience with organising Business Events. As our Events Manager will be going on Maternity Leave there may be the potential to manage the team during her absence so experience within this field would be ideal.

A full job descriptiopn can be found here

If interested please send your CV with a covering letter to [email protected]

Last week the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP (GCGP) submitted a bold Strategic Economic Plan for their LEP area, which included West Norfolk, to Government. Over the next six years they are asking for £500 million of funding to support the delivery of 70,000 new jobs and 50,000 new homes.

The GCGP LEP area has two of the fastest growing cities in the UK, and they believe that now is the time to harness that growth potential and turn it into new jobs, new skills, new homes and new infrastructure that will benefit the whole of their LEP area.

The Strategic Economic Plan itself focuses on five core elements:

• Digital – to become the UK’s exemplar area for digital connectivity and bolster our position as a leader in the Internet of Things;
• Infrastructure – to enable a transport network fit for an economically vital high growth area;
• Skills – to remove the skills barriers to continued growth and facilitate a truly business-led approach to skills delivery;
• Incubator and Innovation space – to respond to existing market pressures by supporting the provision of additional commercial space where it is most needed; and,
• Business Growth – to accelerate the momentum of business growth by offering targeted, coherent and approachable support and advice.

The Plan forms the basis of their ongoing negotiations with Government to agree the best possible Growth Deal for their local area.

You can download a copy of theirStrategic Economic Plan here, and the supporting Delivery Plan here.