On Tuesday 28th March 2023, our Diamond Ambassador businesses came together with Chief Executives and leaders from local councils, colleges, universities, business groups and local Members of Parliament, gathering at East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce’s Clayton-Le-Moors headquarters to contribute their thoughts in the first-ever Chamber Assembly.
Hosted by Miranda Barker OBE, CEO of East Lancs Chamber, the event saw crucial policy topics explored via group discussions, with input from local MPs and prominent figures in the East Lancashire business audience. The audience was selected to represent all 6 council areas of our local economic community.
The Chamber Assembly has been drawn together to shape our pre-election manifesto – to directly inform government of our businesses’ priorities and views on ongoing policy decisions. An example of this was – why are the recently declared Government options for ‘Investment Zones’ only in the eight English Combined Authority Areas? It was raised that Lancashire may miss out on interventions worth £80 million over 5 years.
The Chamber Assembly will drive the County Council’s understanding of business needs to boost economic benefit of the whole county and directly feed into Government departments, Council leaders across Lancashire and to our MPs. It will also be used to seek business opinion for emergency policy and political consultations/visits.
Miranda opened the event with a strong question for the group:
“What is our pre-election manifesto?
“We do need our MPs to hear what the business audience needs – but we’re looking for the sharp end of that.
“The aim here is to collaborate, to pull together all our thoughts, wishes and desires raised to craft a strong message for local governments, councils, MPs and national government to make East Lancashire businesses as successful as can be.”
Rob Hallam, Managing Director at Bigtank Video Productions, was also invited to take the stage to speak to attendees about ‘Campaigning on a Policy’. He encouraged business leaders to shout loudly about the talent and services within East Lancashire.
Rob said:
“I’m a proud Lancastrian.
“After working with companies across the country in 17 years at Bigtank, I’ve found that in Lancashire, we don’t brag enough. We know what we’re good at, but we’ll let people find out about it first.
“Don’t be scared of telling everybody what we can do – let’s start shouting.”
Miranda also called for feedback on how the local economy is currently impacting our businesses, stressing the need for the Chamber to know what’s happening on the ground to help inform and shape policy – and strengthen the Lancashire case for investment.
A fine example of this was the Levelling Up funding recently awarded to Lancashire, to the sum of £200 million collectively. The Chamber’s message is strong, and the need to continue this momentum in being heard.
The group also discussed the current challenge of available energy supply holding back the economy, and what realistic measures could be called for and pushed through the British Chambers of Commerce and national infrastructure.
After a closer look at the National British Chambers’ of Commerce Manifesto and Policy Trackers, it was over to the group to voice their thoughts on how this could be better shaped to suit East Lancashire businesses.
Ram Gupta, CEO of Nybble.co.uk, Chamber Diamond Ambassador and member of multiple business networks and charities across the region, commented on the movement of the pension age and upskilling workforces:
“Let’s correct the problem we’ve caused and give the over-fifties a chance to upskill. People want to learn – let’s give them a chance.”
On the image of Lancashire vs. the city of Manchester, Ram also commented:
“Manchester has manifested itself as a ‘sexy’ place to live – it’s all in the marketing.
“We’ve got it all here in Lancashire – let’s focus on marketing it correctly.”
Other topics raised powerfully in the group discussion were the idea of devolution and a combined authority, the need to work better with local colleges, and communication on how businesses can tap into new, emerging talent. These will now form the agenda for future sessions along with an opportunity to meet and discuss with all our local MPs.
There were green ideas for the new builds popping up over the county, with a particular concern for better utilisation of technologies such as solar panels via low carbon procurement and planning.
There were some fascinating viewpoints within the room, and many commented on how valuable the session had been in gaining insight into the challenges faced by the different businesses and local authorities driving Lancashire.
One particularly interesting idea was the birth of an East Lancashire Tramway – in reference to the newly-strengthened central city links across Greater Manchester. You heard it here first!
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