Chamber News

A recent survey, CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) highlighted growth contraction in August 2015. The index was down to 51.5 from the previous July figure of 51.9. The reading for employment growth also turned negative for the first time in 26 months, as larger manufacturers made cut backs, though small businesses continued to increase their staff levels. Exports also fell for the fifth month in a row, with many blaming the strength of the pound, weak sales in the Eurozone and the slowdown in China.

One of the largest independent business surveys in the UK is the British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey. The previous results for QES Q2 (March – May 2015) showed that the Norfolk results, whilst mixed, were demonstrating signs of cautious growth. In particular, Norfolk’s manufacturing export sales and orders were stronger and higher than the national results and employment in the Norfolk manufacturing sector also rose in comparison to the national results.

The fieldwork period for QES Quarter 3 is currently underway and is open until 14 September. If you have not already completed this survey, you can have your say now. It will be interesting to see the results of this survey (due to be published at the beginning of October) and see whether Norfolk’s manufacturers will continue to buck the national trend, or whether the unsettled climate in the Eurozone and the slow down in the Chinese economy will have an impact.

The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill is making its way through Parliament – a bill which would see the Government devolve more powers to local authorities.

Councils wishing to bid for ‘significant’ devolved powers needed to lodge their ‘expression of interest’ byFriday 4 September.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “We understand that the option favoured by Norfolk County Council is for a Norfolk and Suffolk submission. This will propose clusters of districts working in partnership with the County Councils to make savings in areas such as transport/infrastructure; health and social care; flooding; blue light services; planning and housing; and economic development.”

“Local accountability will be a positive move, but it is essential that businesses participate in any decisions with clear democratic accountability for local businesses as well as residents.”

Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is accountable to their business membership and has a deep knowledge of local business requirements – and can therefore work with partners to make business participation a reality.

The following are the key points which would make devolution work for business:

Devolution must be about growth: Norfolk Chamber business members want the transfer of power from Westminster to the regions to be clearly tied to delivering economic growth and prosperity. Devolution proposals should be subjected to a published ‘growth test’ measuring their potential impact on businesses.

Norfolk businesses want participation, not just consultation: The business community will only lend their support to greater devolution of spending or tax-raising powers from Westminster to local areas, if there is clear democratic accountability for local firms as well as residents. Business wants a real say in local decision-making that affects them.

Formal accountability and clear safeguards for business: The business community is interested in seeing more localisation of property taxes, including business rates and stamp duty – but with formal accountability and clear safeguards for business.

Regulation of businesses must be consistent: Devolution will invariably make some boundaries in the UK matter more than ever before. Devolution of powers to regulate businesses must be minimised, so as to avoid further inconsistency in the application and enforcement of rules and regulations.

Complexity needs to be reduced: Funding from central Government should be less fragmented, with ‘un-ring fenced’ grants, meant for economic development and business support spent on local growth. A reduction in the complexity of local government is needed.

Grant Thornton UK LLP are undertaking a study to understand what you think about the prospect of greater devolution, how it could affect you and what opportunities it could bring for our region’s economy.

We would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete the survey. Please make sure your answers are representative of your businesses views.

To complete the survey, please click here.

To coincide with the start of the new school term, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has unveiled an ambitious plan to put thousands of young people in England directly in touch with local businesses, to improve the quality of careers advice they receive.

Long-term trends show A Level and GCSE results continue to improve, but youth unemployment is almost three times the national average – possibly highlighting a mismatch between academic achievement and work readiness.

The Chambers of Commerce network, which covers the whole of the country, will run 250 career events, bringing together thousands of pupils, businesses, schools, colleges and training providers in order to address this issue and improve young people’s prospects for a successful career.

The ‘Your Future’ programme of career events, supported by the Skills Funding Agency, will give 70,000 young people access to potential employers, showcase the range of career options open to them, and help them to plan their future to take advantage of these opportunities. It will also give businesses the platform to meet the employees of tomorrow and to talk about the skills and qualities they look for when recruiting.

The programme, which will be managed by St Helens Chamber, will launch at the end of September 2015, to coincide with the new academic term, and will run until March 2016.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said:

“The ‘Your Future’ career events will be a key part of our Young Chamber activity working with schools across Norfolk this year. Chamber members have such a lot to offer Norfolk’s young people to assist them to make the right career choices but also to understand how their learning at school relates to the world of work.”

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“If young people are to make good decisions about their future career options, they need access to relevant, complete, and engaging information – and to the real businesspeople that make these options come to life. Otherwise, the gap between young people and business will continue, as too many learners study and train in areas where there is little demand for new employees.

“To bridge the gap between the world of education and the world of work, we’re putting together a programme that will break down barriers between pupils and businesses, bringing thousands of students and companies together at local events across England.

“By connecting the employees of tomorrow with local businesses, we are helping each to improve their understanding of the other. That means young people will be better able to prepare for the careers they want – whether that is through an apprenticeship, further training or higher education – and businesses will have the chance to meet the talent they need to thrive and grow. This is a win-win scenario and we are confident that it will make a real difference to young people and businesses nationwide.”

Joe Billington, Deputy Director of Consumer Services at the Skills Funding Agency said:

“The Skills Funding Agency is pleased to be supporting the ‘Your Future’ programme of events which will be an excellent, innovative way to increase young people’s understanding of the world of work, sharing our own National Careers Service vision of inspiring young people to look ahead, seek the next opportunity, and develop new skills to prepare for the future”.

Commenting on the new requirement from the 1 September 2015 for businesses bidding for government contracts to demonstrate a clear commitment to apprenticeships, Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:

“Many Norfolk businesses already employ apprentices and we would encourage more businesses to consider the benefits of apprenticeships. However adding an extra layer of bureaucracy to winning government contracts is placing a greater burden on business. Small and medium size businesses in particular would view this as yet another hoop they have to jump through in the already complex world of doing business with the public sector.”

Also commenting on the new requirements, Adam Marshall, Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“Everyone wants to see more high quality apprenticeship places being created but adding red tape and bureaucracy to government procurement opportunities isn’t the way to make it happen. Businesses up and down Britain agree that the best way to increase the number of apprenticeships is to focus relentlessly on their quality, and by ensuring that they are viewed as positively as academic qualifications by employers.”

Norfolk Chamber members recently supplied case studies on areas of planning reform and productivity to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Inquiry on planning and productivity reform.

The Communities and Local Government Committee monitors the policy, administration and spending of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated arms length bodies, including the Homes and Communities Agency. The Committee consists ofeleven backbench Members of Parliament. The Committee is an investigative Committee rather than a legislative Committee: it sets its own programme and chooses subjects for inquiries. For each inquiry, a press notice is issued listing the terms of reference and inviting interested parties to send written submissions. For most inquiries, the Committee will also hold question and answer “oral evidence” sessions with witnesses. These are held in public, normally in a Committee Room at the Houses of Parliament. Webcasts of recent oral evidence sessions can be viewed atParliament TV.

The Norfolk Chamber case studies formed part of a submission from the British Chambers of Commerce which asked the following questions of the Minister:

1. Planning authorities can already effectively ‘zone’ brownfield land for development by granting permitted development rights (using Local Development Orders, for example). LDOs are flexible instruments that can be used for both residential housing and commercial / industrial development but it’s unclear to us how the zoning proposals would work alongside them. How do the proposed reforms improve on that regime?
2. In regards to the scope of zones – is the Minister confident these will be big enough and numerous to deliver a meaningful step – change in development?
3. The focus of the Government’s proposals is clearly on freeing up brownfield land for housing development. Without complementary reforms to free up greenbelt land of low environmental quality, will this not accelerate the trend of fallow employment land being reclassified as windfall housing land supply? Has the Government considered the economic consequences of further restricting the availability of land for industrial and commercial development?
4. On the planning department’s capacity and resources – is the Minister confident that there is sufficient capacity and resources within planning authorities and statutory consultees to deliver a speedier system? There is a perception among some businesspeople that planning departments and publicly-funded statutory consultees are under-resourced and under-skilled, leading to rationing of service (see case studies below). What measures, if any, is the government taking to ensure that the impact of the reforms is not nullified by this?

The Select Committee are scheduled to question Brandon Lewis MP, Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government on Monday 7 September 2015 about planning and productivity.

The case studies, supplied by Norfolk Chamber members are shown below:

Case Study 1: Planning department resourcing constraints and service rationing (Chamber member property consultant, Norfolk)

‘Planning Authorities all seem to be under resourced. This is evidenced in at least a couple of ways:

‘I spoke to an officer only yesterday. He confirmed a particular application I am looking at will be decided by officer’s delegated powers, so not going to committee. Therefore will be determined within 8 weeks of validation. However, he further stated that it was unlikely to validate for at least 3 weeks due to resources.

‘Typically, we are finding that when it comes to validation, local authorities are looking to find reasons not to validate, so kicking further into the long grass. For instance, a small house extension submitted a month ago, took three weeks to reach the top of the pile at which point validation was rejected because we had not supplied a “Block Plan”. We actually had, but it had been termed “Site Plan”. We immediately adjusted and responded, but it had already been put back to the bottom of the pile. In other words, LPA’s are looking for technicalities to slow the process down.

‘Once an approval is achieved, the process to discharge conditions is long and tortuous, vastly extending the process. And with most significant approvals containing pre-commensurate conditions, these must be discharged before work commences on site, which all takes more time to compile info even before the discharge conditions application can be submitted. I suppose in summary, an approval is only the start of the approval process.’

Case Study 2: Dealing with planning applications in a timely fashion (Chamber member property consultant, Norfolk)

‘[This concerns] a ‘discharge of condition’ application we have been involved with for a major project in a Norfolk Local Authority area. We have been trying to get information signed-off by a key statutory consultee, in order that the development can proceed.

‘The required technical information and details were submitted as part of the application and the national statutory consultee came back and requested additional information. This was provided by the relevant consultant and sent via email directly to the local council and statutory consultee within 1 week. A chase email was sent by the developers [sic] planning consultant 7 days after the additional information was submitted where the consultee responded with the following:

“We have received this and are currently reviewing the information, we will provide a response in due course.”

‘A further 2 weeks elapsed with no response from the Council or Statutory consultee, during which time the developer’s planning consultant had sent emails at intervals of 7 days to the consultee requesting a response. Eventually, after 19 days, the statutory responded with the following:

‘”We are not currently looking at this as when we received the original consultation the additional information was not on the Council website, I did try to contact the council to clarify where the new information was but was unsuccessful, therefore the consultation was closed by us. We have since received an email from the Council confirming that the new information is now on their website, therefore we will review this information however our 21 day response time will start from the date we received that email which is the 24 July.

‘It should be noted that the Council sent the email on the 22 July @8.40am but for reasons I don’t understand it was not received by us until 24 July @ 22.28pm which was unfortunately after I had left for a week’s annual leave; therefore we have not commenced looking at this information, however the 21 day deadline will be back dated to the 24th July.”

‘Following this email, the planning consultant responded expressing disappointment and requesting a response ASAP to which they responded:

‘”My email meant that we had received the consultation not the information and I had not reviewed the council website at that point as I had assumed that it would be on the Council’s website. Notwithstanding, we had not commenced reviewing the information until today, and my previous email re responses times still applies. We are not able to review the information any faster than this as we do not have the resources to do so at the current time, and we do not consider that we have caused a delay.”

‘This is all very frustrating. Information to discharge the condition was submitted on the 7 July, and should have been dealt with by Statutory Consultee, before the 28 July. We are still awaiting a response, and they themselves extended their response time by a further 21 days. All in all, the delays could amount to around 49 days (if they take their back dated 21 days), rather than the 21 days they should have dealt with the information. There appear to be no guarantees that we will even hear within this timescale.‘

Service operator, Stagecoach in Norfolk, has revealed details of an investment plan, which they say is worth “well over £1 million”. Of that, £600,000 has been spent on five new buses, which have already come into service on routes in Lynn and immediate surrounding areas.

The remainder will go towards an upgrade and expansion of facilities at the company’s maintenance depot in Hamlin Way, on the Hardwick Narrows estate, which was given planning permission by West Norfolk Council in June.

Mr Campbell said managers had had to address a number of issues since the West Norfolk services, which were formerly run under the Norfolk Green banner, came under their control in May

Managing director Andy Campbell said: “We are working through the problems that we have to improve the services in line with what I would expect from a Stagecoach operation.”

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:”We very much welcome the news that Stagecoach are investing in their vital service across West Norfolk and look forward to seeing improvement in the near future.”

Changes to the taxation of cash machines outside shops could result in smaller retailers being hit with increased bills and there is concern that the tax charge could result in the demise of free ATMs for shoppers. Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is calling for this to be reviewed.

In 2013 the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) ruled that cash machines situated outside the front of a shop should have a separate rates bill to the main business.

Business rates can cost convenience stores up to £15,000 per year, per machine. It is thought that more than 10,000 ATMs are liable to the charge, which will vary according to how often the machine is used and how much cash is withdrawn.

With the charges set to be backdated to 2010, there is concern that the service is becoming too expensive and financially unviable for an increasing number of smaller shops.

Around 60% of convenience stores currently offer ATMs for their customers to use, but changes to the way rates are calculated could lead to more shops having to introduce charges for using cash machines.

Norfolk Chamber has written to the Government highlighting the issue and calling for ministers to to scrap the charge on free ATMs, arguing that they offer customers access to their money at a time when many banks in town are closing. The Chamber will also be looking for local authority power to grantdiscretionary rate reliefto cover ATM rates.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“A representative of the VOA said: ‘We are currently reviewing ATM sites to ensure all sites that should be assessed are correctly rated. This treats all businesses equally, and ensures they pay their fair share of the overall business rates bill. ‘We will continue to consult with the machine operators who will be affected by this exercise.”

In response to strong lobbying from the Chamber network and other business representation organisations In March 2015 the Government pledged the most ‘ambitious’ and ‘wide-ranging review’ of business rates for a generation, paving the way for a major overhaul of the existing system.

The review will examine how businesses use property, what the UK can learn from other countries about local business taxes, and how the system can be modernised so it better reflects changes in the value of property. It is set to report its findings by the 2016 Budget.

Hear from local exporters on how they have used international trading to grow their businesses. It is worth remembering that exporting doesn’t have to mean doing business in another continent .

Western Europe is an underexploited marketplace, and further afield traditional exporting markets, such as America, remain strong and an important market for the UK. Click here to access examples of our region exporters’ experiences.

Dennis Blackmore, managing director of Learning Resources based in King’s Lynn, joined the first members’ meeting of the Hanse Business Network in Herford, Germany and explored possible opportunities in the region.

The Business Hanse was established in 2013 and is based on the town’s historic Hanseatic League, a network which promoted trade links in medieval times. King’s Lynn is a founding member of the Business Hanse, a network launched for businesses to access international markets and stimulate overseas trade.

Nick Daubney, leader of West Norfolk Council and driving force behind King’s Lynn’s involvement with Business Hanse, said: “The network has grown, with over 100 members from across Europe, the Baltic region and Russia.”

It has been calculated that part the entire area involved covers a market with a combined population of over 300 million.

He added: “In 10 or 20 years’ time King’s Lynn businesses could be very much involved in this potentially huge overseas market.

“The town is very much at the heart of the network and is becoming well-known across Northern Europe. But these networks are not going to be established in a matter of a few months, they will take a some time.”

To find out how your business could be involved visitNew Business Hanse.

For any help or advice of tackling new markets or starting to export check out the export section of our website or contact the Norfolk Chamber’s International Team julie.austin@norfolkchamber.co.uk

Julian Support provides support for people with complex mental health problems. We provide this support to people across Norfolk and Suffolk in a range of supported housing schemes and to people living in their own homes. Our focus is on empowering people to build and maintain skills that will enable them to live independent and meaningful lives.

We work with people, helping them recognise and build on the strengths they already have and to eliminate barriers that impact on their mental health.

Social factors such as unaffordable housing, homelessness, living on a low income and feeling isolated from the community can all be major barriers to recovery.

We also work to a recovery model and offer practical advice and assistance, including assistance with daily living skills, benefits, budgeting, accessing social activities and exploring opportunities for work and education.

When people feel ready to move on we have the skills and experience to offer housing advice and assist with accessing independent accommodation. We can provide expert advice on housing and homelessness, benefits, budgeting and debt issues. We do our best to ensure that people have access to appropriate housing for their needs, have enough money to live on and are free from the burden of unaffordable debt.

We work in partnership with people, their families and friends, and wider care teams to promote and maintain good mental health and wellbeing.

Pip Coker, Chief Executive said:

“Julian Support promotes recovery across all of its services. We believe that recovery is not just about treating or managing symptoms but about enabling the people we work with to gain and remain in control of their lives. A key concept in recovery is hope and we believe that it is possible for all the people we support to have rewarding and fulfilling lives, and engage meaningfully in society”.

https://www.juliansupport.org/info@juliansupport.org 01603 767718

Funding to support innovation within the local Voluntary and Social Enterprise sector was unveiled today as the next round of the £1 million LEP Prize Challenge opened for bids including the West Norfolk area.

The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is encouraging charities and social enterprises to help people furthest away from the workplace to gain the skills they need to become job ready and ultimately get back into work.

Grants of £40,000 are available for charities and social enterprises to develop and deliver projects that will tackle worklessness and skill shortages in our area. The funding will support up to seven projects throughout 2016, with the strongest three organisations receiving a further £50,000 to scale up their projects in 2017.

Launched in May 2013, the LEP Prize Challenge has invested £360,000 into the local community, which has so far helped 110 people to gain paid employment and has supported over 300 people to become work-ready. In Round 2, we aim to reach our target of helping 1,000 disadvantaged people and get 250 people back into work.

Jane Darlington, LEP Prize Challenge Panel member and Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Community Foundation who administer the scheme, said:

“I’m pleased to see the second phase going live to build on the great work already achieved by projects funded under the LEP Prize Challenge. There have been some changes to this phase to build on what was learned in the earlier round.”

For more information visit https://www.gcgp.co.uk/2015/08/1-million-to-help-local-people-get-back-to-work/

There is competition to run the trains between Norwich and London with National Express and FirstGroup wanting to take over the services from Abellio, who hope to continue the franchise under a new tie-up with Stagecoach.

What is important to Norfolk’s business community, however, is the service which will be delivered under the new franchise from October 2016. This includes faster trains, more reliable services and better timetabling – so trains can travel between Norwich and London in 90 minutes.

Jonathan Cage Vice President of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce has met with each of the parties and has made it clear to them the service what passengers expect and need from a modern railway.

Mark Pendlington chairman of New Anglia LEP and MP Chloe Smith joint chairmen of the Great Eastern Main Line Taskforce, which includes Norfolk Chamber, are meeting senior representatives from the companies today.

Mr Pendlington said” We will be driving home to each of the bidders the importance of achieving our goals and delivering on the key recommendations from our campaign. This is so much more than business as usual, it about fresh ideas and innovative thinking and about transforming the Great Eastern main Line into the 21st century service that passengers need and deserve. “

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said “An efficient rail service is a key priority for Norfolk members and essential if we are to build on the reputation of Norfolk as a top business location. We all need to work together to ensure that the new franchise gives us the quality of rail service we need now and as importantly in the future.”

Construction work on the £19m Postwick junction, at the eastern end of the A47 Southern bypass, started in May last year. Earlier this summer, the road was shut while beams for the new bridge over the A47 were hoisted into place.

A council spokeswoman said: “The new Postwick junction is expected to be open to traffic in November. However, it won’t be open in its entirety until the beginning of December as final works to the existing bridge need to take place.”

The council says the junction will release land for 1,600 homes and unlock some £80m of private investment, potentially paving the way for 5,000 jobs. But protestors criticised it as an over-engineered gateway to the controversial Norwich Northern Distributor Road.

Drivers will face some disruption as last night saw the start of overnight closures on the A47. They are full closures both east and west to ensure safety and traffic is having to use the slip roads.

And the A1042 Yarmouth Road will need to shut next month, so surfacing of the junction, white lining and installation of loops for the new traffic signals can be carried out.

Weekend closures will take place from 8pm on Saturday, September 19 until 6am on Monday, September 21 and between the same times on Saturday, September 26 until Monday, September 28.

There will also be a series of weekday overnight closures, from 8pm to 6am from Monday, September 21 until Friday, September 25 and between the same times from Monday, September 28 until Friday, October 2.

The council says the closures have been planned for the weekend and overnight in an attempt to minimise disruption to the travelling public and to the Postwick Park and Ride site.