It is vital that we grow our economy in a planned way

We also heard the latest news from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the plan for a City Deal to aid the growth of our advanced manufacturing and engineering sector.

While, of course, certain issues have been raised around Warwick District Council’s local plan, as a chamber we do welcome the fact that we are getting towards a stage when there is a plan for the area.

It’s vital that we grow our economy but in a way that is planned and follows a strategy rather than just seeing individual schemes spring up that aren’t joined up or don’t match the needs of the district.

While the plan should be scrutinised and people should raise their concerns it is important that we get it in place as soon as possible. The absence of a plan does not mean development will stand still – it will happen but not in a strategic way.

We all know the importance of being able to grow our economy so I would urge individuals and businesses to make their comments on the plan but, also, understand just what it means to this area to get one in place.

The discussion, led by Bill Hunt – the deputy chief executive of Warwick District Council and also a key figure in the LEP – then moved onto City Deal.

He told us that City Deal’s are a government idea to help improve local economies.

Originally, this meant major cities but it has now been extended to areas such as Coventry and Warwickshire.

As an area, we now have to ‘bid’ for a City Deal based around an idea that can have a positive impact on our economy and create new jobs and bring new investment.

The LEP’s bid is around Re-engineering Engineering to assist small and mediumsized companies in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector.

In order to help them grow, the LEP wants to create a conduit which could steer businesses in the right direction for support in their expansion.

This is something the chamber does across all sectors at the moment and, if our advisers cannot provide the support needed they are excellent at signposting businesses to the help they need.

The idea is for a focused effort on the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector which is seen as a key driver for growth.

We were very grateful to Bill for his presentation and we were pleased to be able to keep our members informed of two such important developments.

As I said, I would advise businesses and individuals to comment on the Local Plan by logging on to www.warwickdc.gov.uk/newlocalplan