Chamber News

Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that a new President of Great Yarmouth Chamber Council has been elected. Andrew Penman, Group Managing Director of Conductor Installation Services, won the majority of votes from the Chamber Council members.

Andy has over forty years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He has been immersed in the hydraulic hammer business for most of the past twenty years and brings his vitality and commitment to establishing the CIS Group of companies as the global leader in the area of conductor and Subsea pile installation.

On being elected President of Great Yarmouth Chamber Council, Andy said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Council members for giving me the chance to help guide and encourage the Great Yarmouth Chamber Council as your new president. To help to achieve it’s true potential within the business community and the wider public sectors, especially our town centre, education, training and the borough commuter belts in the area.”

Andy will chair his first meeting of the Great Yarmouth Chamber Council on 15 June, where the Chamber Council will be hearing on the progress being made in the Enterprise Zone. The meeting will be hosted at Beacon Park.

A further 80 additional areas are now able to receive superfast broadband, which takes the number of homes and businesses able to buy better broadband to 141,077 across Norfolk.

It has also been announced that some of the areas due to be able to access better broadband by September 2015 include: Attleborough, Diss, Fakenham, Holt, Long Stratton and Poringland.

Remember, once the new superfast broadband services golive, your existing broadband packages will NOT automatically upgrade, you will need to contact your provider to see how you could benefit from the new speeds.

Full information on the latest update can be found on the attached update sheet.

On a national level, UK inflation remained at a record low, revised Office of National Statistics figures showed that the UK economy grew at a faster rate than estimated last year, however UK labour productivity fell by 0.2%.

Locally, the commercial property market is strengthening and availability for office space in Norwich has now fallen below the 10% mark. Prime rents in the city are now at £16.50 per sq.ft. and prime industrial rents at £5.75 per sq.ft.

Norwich International Airport have proposed new flight routes from Norwich to Charles De Gaulles, Dublin, Exeter and Newcastle. The airport will face stiff competition from other regional flight hubs also looking to secure Regional Air Connectivity Funding. The airport also announced a new charter flight route to Paphos in Cyprus for 2016.

Group Lotus car sales have entered the growth fast lane as it recorded its best performance in 7 years. Lotus saw a 55% surge in sales to the end of 2014/15 financial year.

Natwest announced further investment in Norwich by confirming that they will take on the old HMV store to complement their existing branches in St Stephens Street and London Road.

To read the full economic report click here.

Norfolk Chamber’s regular working lunch with the Bank of England was held at the Chamber offices today. Tim Pike, the Agent for the Bank of England in the South East was looking to hear from Norfolk businesses on: whether they were investing and recruiting for their organisations; feeling pressure over wage increases; and what their confidence levels were going forward.

Many members highlighted that they were fairly optimistic and had reasonable levels of confidence, however they were still slightly cautious over the possible outcome of the General Election. Those working in the construction sector highlighted that they were very busy, however they were experiencing shortages of bricks and other construction materials, as well as skilled labour. It was noted that large construction projects in the Cambridge area may eventually have an impact on the construction market in Norfolk, as more skilled workers migrated towards possible higher earning potential in Cambridge.

Several businesses expressed concern regarding the oil and gas sector and noted that many organisations both locally and nationally were consolidating their positions in response to the lower oil prices. It was also highlighted that those companies dealing with Russia were seeing a number of contracts being cancelled due to the escalating situation in that region.

The service sector members outlined that they were seeing growth in disposable income spending, such as travel and leisure items. Car sales were also increasing, as outlined in the recent Norwich Economic Barometer report, which showed that more cars were registered in March 2015 than in any other month in the previous 16 years.

Those in the IT sector reported that their levels of optimism had been rising over the last couple of quarters, as more Norfolk businesses were investing in much needed IT equipment. Recruiting skilled staff remained an issue and the salary levels of high quality staff had seen significant increases to ensure they remained in post.

Over 50 of our members teamed up at The King’s Centre for a test of their local and general knowledge, all battling to be crowned Norfolk Chamber’s Quiz Night Champions.

The evening started with a networking ice breaker where we mixed up the teams to introduce them to new connections. Winsor Bishop finished the ice breaker having their business card named the best in the room. Once the quiz had started the competitiveness flourished through 4 rounds, including some general knowledge, a Norfolk themed round and a movies and landscapes.

Mixed team GGS, Tactile Solutions and Anglian Business Cleaning walked away with the title after a tie breaker question had to be used between themselves and team Lovewell Blake. All teams ranked high on the score board with none earning below 75 points, but our winning team won with a total score of 80 out of the available 94 points! With plenty of networking and our special guest host Nicky Price of the BBC, it was a relaxed evening enjoyed by all.

Take the chance to try your cocktails making skills at our next After Hours: Cocktail Hour. Click here for full details.

Norfolk County Council is reminding motorists that the A47 will be closed in both directions at Postwick this weekend, as work to create a new bridge across the A47 continues.

Closures will begin at 8pm on Friday evening and the road will reopen no later than 6am on Monday April 27th.

When completed, the Postwick Hub scheme will increase the capacity of the A47 Postwick junction and provide access to new business and housing developments in the area.

Last weekend’s work finished ahead of schedule and the road was reopened early, but it is expected that this weekend’s work will require a full closure.

Traffic that cannot avoid this section of the A47 will be diverted as follows:

Eastbound (towards Great Yarmouth) A47 traffic heading east will be diverted on to the new access roads that will serve the expanded Broadland Business Park and new Broadland Gate business areas. This route includes five roundabouts before traffic rejoins the A47. Temporary traffic lights may be used to assist traffic flow.

Westbound (towards Dereham and King’s Lynn) A47 traffic heading west will have a shorter diversion, but this will pass through works on the new Oaks Lane roundabout and the major junction at the southern end of the existing and new (under construction) bridges over the A47.

During the weekend closures it will not be possible to cross the A47 southbound on the existing bridge to reach Church Road. Traffic wanting to head westbound out of the city will have to go via the A47 Cucumber Lane roundabout, using the main eastbound diversion.

Motorists are also being warned that the diversion route could also be delayedas new bridge beams are transported along the route in order to reach the A47. The County Council has done a large amount of work to keep residents and motorist aware of the Postwick project and warning signs about the closures are placed as far away as Newmarket bypass and King’s Lynn, to give motorists a chance to change their route.

This is the second of three weekend closures (Friday May 8 to Monday May 11 remains), with a fourth weekend (Friday May 15 to Monday May 18) in reserve in case of delays. There will be no closure on the early May bank holiday weekend.

Postwick Park & Ride will be closed on all weekend A47 closures at Postwick. The nearest alternative is Harford park and ride, at the A47 junction with the A140 Ipswich Road. Tim Ellis, Resident Engineer, Norfolk County Council, said: “We made a good start on the bridge construction last weekend and it was pleasing to be able to get the work done ahead of schedule and reopen the road early. This weekend we are lifting the northern bridge beams into place and due to the complexity involved we envisage that we will require the full Friday night to Monday morning closure. We are very grateful for the ongoing patience of motorists and residents. We’ve promoted the closures in advance, and tried to minimise the impact of the work as much as possible.”

For further information about the works and diversion routes visit www.norfolk.gov.uk

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce,has today (Tuesday 21 April) sent an open letter to the leaders of the main parties calling on them to focus on long-term growth and strategic vision over tactical headline-chasing. The full text of the letter is below.

“In December, I wrote to you – and theother UK party leaders – with a call from business to act responsibly during the election campaign, and put the UK’s long-term success over political tactics and point-scoring.

All the major parties responded with a clear commitment to act in the interests of the economy and growth. With only a couple of weeks left in this campaign, it is impossible to remain silent in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.

While there are some encouraging statements and positive ideas in manifestos, on the campaign trail it seems strategic vision and evidence-led policy announcements have been left on the bus. In their place we’ve had tactical headline-chasing and lazy assumptions; a reliance on populist statements, not economic common sense; and niche policy announcements, rather than a focus on the fundamentals. For example, issues like how the UK earns its way in the world go unaddressed.

Worryingly, the parties are also taking it in turns to propose new interventions in markets. These measures simply serve to side-step regulators and experts, rather than strengthening their hand.

Parties are competing to make ever more strident pledges to freeze taxes and ring-fence spending for the life of the next Parliament, without being able to see very far down the economic road ahead. No well-run business would tie its hands in this way.

And, dishearteningly, we also have policy proposals that, if enacted, would undermine entrepreneurship, aspiration and business growth. We have heard ideas to raid pension savings, create new levies on companies, and limit the tax relief available for genuine wealth creators and small investors, to name but a few.

Constraining those willing to take the risks needed to grow businesses demonstrates a lack of leadership. It is counter-productive and deeply troubling.

In the final few weeks of the campaign, I urge you to bring the focus back to long-term growth. Businesspeople want to see a clear and unapologetic vision for the UK’s future success in an ever more competitive and dangerous world. Our shared prosperity depends on it.

Yours sincerely,

John Longworth

Director General

British Chambers of Commerce”

• In the three months to February 2015 employment rose by 248,000, while unemployment fell by 76,000
• The proportion of people aged 16 – 64 in work was 73.4%, the highest since record began in 1971
• The total unemployment rate fell to 5.6% and the youth unemployment rate declined to 16.1%
• Total pay including bonuses rose by 1.7% compared with a year earlier, while pay excluding bonuses rose by 1.8%.

Commenting on the labour market statistics for April 2015, published today by the ONS,David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“The latest figures continue to highlight the dynamism and resilience of the UK labour market. Rising employment levels and falling unemployment supports our view that the UK economy will record steady growth in the first quarter, despite the recent disappointing construction and production figures.

“And it is very welcome news that wage increases are now higher than inflation and are boosting living standards.

“However, challenges remain – we must address the youth unemployment rate. Although it continues to fall, it is still more than three times the national average.”

David Bharier, BCC Business Insight Manager said:

“The BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey* shows a steady level of growth in employment levels since the 2008-09 recession, despite slight slowdowns in recent quarters.

“However, a majority of firms from both the manufacturing and services sectors struggle to find the right staff, with 69% and 65% reporting recruitment difficulties in the last three months, respectively.”

Norfolk County Council’s annual road surface dressing programme for 2015 starts today (Wednesday, 15 April) with gangs working in the Bradwell, Langham and east coastal areas.

Surface dressing is one of the best ways of extending the life of roads while contributing to safety by improving skid resistance and preventing potholes. The process involves laying a thin layer of bitumen and chippings on to the road, stopping water penetration and reducing the number of potholes caused by frost. This year’s planned programme is worth £9.2M.

This work takes place every year while the weather is warmer, with the holiday areas and main roads treated first. Where possible, work is planned away from busy roads during peak periods, but because it is fast-moving and may be suspended during bad weather, it is hard to give motorists early warning of where the crews will be working. The aim is to complete busier routes by the end of July.

People living along routes to be surface dressed will receive notification a day or two before the crews arrive. They will be asked not to park on the road on the day of the surfacing, or the following day when loose chippings will be swept up. They will have the chance to say what they think afterwards via the County Council’s website, or on a response card which will be delivered to a proportion of residents.

The County Council apologises for any inconvenience caused to local people and to motorists, who are asked to drive with care and consideration when work is taking place, and for a few days afterwards while the new surface settles. A 20mph speed limit is imposed during work and on freshly-laid surface dressing for safety reasons. The work will be carried out by Norfolk County Council’s Community & Environmental Services Dept and their contractors.

The BBC would like to alert you to an opportunity to volunteer your time to assist at the Radio 1 Academy – a week of workshops and activities aimed at young people interested in the music, film and digital industries, ahead of Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

Taking place from 9-15 May at Open in Norwich and run by BBC Learning, the Radio 1 Academy will welcome thousands of young people, mainly 16-19 year olds, to take part in workshops, learn from professionals and help inspire future careers in music, journalism, gaming, film and television.

The Academy will require help with some roles assisting in the workshops. These roles will be coordinated by the BBC. Please send your details and fill in the attached application form to the BBC to register your interest now.

Please note: You have to be over 18 to apply and working hours would be up to a maximum of 8 hours per day including a lunch break. The BBC will cover all expenses including travel and lunch.

Please email Georgina.Brett01@bbc.co.uk by 20th April with the required details.

Download the application form here

The A47 will be closed at Postwickfrom 8pmtomorrow night (Thursday 16 April) for preparatory work ahead of the weekendclosure of the road for bridge beam lifts.

The Thursday night closure will be lifted no later than 6am on Friday, 17 April,or as soon as the work has finished. It is hoped that it will be completed in the early hours of Friday.

Unfortunately, for eastbound traffic (towards Great Yarmouth) the diversion using the Postwick junction slip roads and new access roads (see weekend closure, below)will not be available. A47 traffic heading east on Norwich Southern Bypass will therefore be diverted at the Trowse junction, with a lengthy diversion route using the A146, A143, and A12, re-joiningthe A47 at Vauxhall roundabout.

Westbound traffic will be diverted using the Postwick junction slip roads, so will not be significantly affected.

Commenting on the Liberal Democrat Party manifesto and the policies proposed, Dr Adam Marshall, Executive Director of the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“It is good to see that the Liberal Democrats’ policy proposals include a commitment to investing in infrastructure, improving access to finance by expanding the Business Bank, and greater support for firms to grow apprenticeship numbers.Companies also badly want to see the promised ‘broad and well considered business rates review’ materialise.

“Continued Liberal Democrat opposition to expansion of airport capacity is short-sighted when the need is so critical.

“Businesses will also be concerned by a number of Lib Dem tax proposals. Restricting entrepreneurs’ relief, hiking dividend taxes and slashing annual allowances for Capital Gains Tax, could have a chilling effect on growth. The last thing the UK needs is tax changes that discourage entrepreneurial risk-taking by startup and growth companies.”