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Partnership focus as Hampshire Chamber holds breakfast with Frost
 Chief Executive of Hampshire Chamber and David Frost CBE, Director General of British Chambers of Commerce.jpg&max=150&folder=pics)
19 Jul 11
Hampshire Chamber is ideally placed to put business needs at the heart of the county’s new local economic partnerships (LEPs).
That is the view of David Frost CBE, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, who addressed a breakfast meeting of Hampshire business leaders.
Mr Frost has been appointed by the Government to chair a national network of LEPs, which involve businesses and local authorities working together to decide economic priorities and lead the recovery.
Hampshire is developing two LEPs - Enterprise M3 in the north and Solent in the south.
Mr Frost highlighted the strength of Hampshire’s new countywide chamber as a major driving force for the LEPs but said government had to match that enthusiasm by continuing to invest in regional business support.
He said: “Hampshire is a premier league county in terms of GDP and it has long cried out for a single chamber of commerce to represent its businesses. I am very impressed with the business community’s commitment to LEPs and there is undoubtedly excitement and a real buzz about them. But if the government wants to get results it has to invest in successful areas such as Hampshire and not just areas of deprivation.”
Jimmy Chestnutt, Chief Executive of Hampshire Chamber, said: “We are uniquely positioned to help both the LEPs work for the benefit of businesses throughout the county. The British Chambers of Commerce have a similar sort of role but at a national level. As a result, the chamber network is at the heart of the LEP process nationally and locally.”
Mr Frost said the chamber movement was focusing on a series of themes to ensure 2011 was a year of growth. These included cutting red tape on employment and planning issues, increasing access to finance and rebalancing the economy in favour of export-led growth.
He said: “At a time when we are trying to stimulate the economy, Government must make it easier for businesses to recruit by stopping the relentless flow of employment legislation we see at the moment. Ministers should also reduce planning delays so that there are much faster decisions to support infrastructure development. Bank lending and access to finance must improve as unless we get the money flowing again we won’t get the economy moving. We all need to do more to promote our exporters and the chamber movement has a key role in that.”
The meeting also discussed the Eurozone crisis, youth unemployment and the impact on the economy of the ageing population. After the breakfast, which took place at the Solent Hotel & Spa in Whiteley, Mr Frost visited two Segensworth-based export companies. These were TUV SUD Product Services, a technical testing and certification firm, and Saab Seaeye, which manufactures remotely operated underwater vehicle systems.
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