Broadland District Council is now consulting on its ‘preferred options’ in terms of sites for future development across the district. The consultation will help the Council to produce a Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) which will identify or ‘allocate’ areas of land for specific types of development, such as housing, employment, community facilities etc. It will also include the definition of development boundaries or settlement limits for those places where some further ‘infill’ development may take place. To find out more and to submit your views online, click here. The consultation period will close on 2 September 2013.
This Christmas, visit the historic city of Norwich and indulge in a luxury stay at Barnham Broom.
Although just a few miles from the centre of the medieval city of Norwich, Barnham Broom is perfectly secluded in the beautiful Norfolk countryside; the perfect backdrop for a spot of festive escapism!
Barnham Broom is a luxury resort with two immaculate golf courses, indulgent spa, health and fitness club, outstanding dining and a tranquil and relaxed atmosphere.
With everything you need to unwind and get away from it all this Christmas, allow our team to take care of you and take all the stress out of the season, giving you plenty of opportunity to relax during this specially-curated four night stay.
You can expect to feel thoroughly pampered this Christmas with our indulgent four night break.
Here is a flavour of what you can expect from this very special stay in Norfolk.
Your stay includes a 25 minute treatment in our tranquil Spa, use of the facilities at The Edge Health & Fitness Club including gym, swimming pool, bubble pool, sauna, steam room, table tennis and squash courts. There will also be a range of activities to enjoy during your break including archery, yoga classes, wine tasting and a race night.
At a recent meeting of the Norfolk Chamber’s Planning & Development Group, a discussion was held with Norfolk’s local authorities and New Anglia LEP, on how to better promote Norfolk to developers and inward investors from both within the UK and overseas. Recent improvements to infrastructure such as the A11 and the real signs of recovery in the economy, make now the ideal time to undertake a coordinated marketing campaign to really promote and push the benefits of the region.
Existing initiatives such as the East of England Energy Zone; Norwich Research Park; to name but a few are starting to gather momentum. There is also the exciting prospect of a City Deal for Norwich. Norfolk is also leading the way on a low carbon economy, being an energy exporter as well as being a key player in the future delivery of offshore renewables. Norfolk and Norwich also has some fantastic cultural offerings, such as the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, the historic city centre and the Norfolk Broads. Norwich has a strong retail centre, not only providing for the needs of the city, but also providing an attractive shopping destination for visitors from further afield.
Unlike Manchester and Birmingham, who have successfully marketed themselves and their outlying locales on the national and international stages, Norfolk does do not have just one central focal point – we need to be a lot more visible as a county. The region needs to have a strong Brand that everybody of all ages can get behind and believe. Each of the local authorities currently has a very restricted budget for economic development and it is therefore essential that the region gets the best value for money out of these resources. Norfolk has a lot to offer and we need to have a united, credible message to do this.
The group went on to discuss what that Brand should be. Does Norfolk have a large enough offering on its own or should the Brand be across both Norfolk and Suffolk, thereby widening the opportunities? If this approach was used, then ‘New Anglia’ could be the Brand – however it was felt that this would need a very clear marketing message to ensure the Brand was recognisable.
The group also acknowledged the need to ensure that existing Norfolk based businesses were fully supported by a robust customer care programme. The existing business community is just as important to the economic growth of Norfolk, as attracting new inward investment.
An opportunity for Norfolk to put itself on the map, would be to attend a large international trade fair/exhibition i.e. MIPIM, which is an annual property exhibition that is held every year in Cannes and attracts worldwide interest from developers and investors. All of the main cities in the UK have stands such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Derby, Bristol and the North East to promote themselves. Over the years these have changed from individual city stands to being more coordinated approaches from regions, often promoted by the LEP supported by local businesses.
The whole of the Eastern Region is currently not visible in this arena, meaning that either international investors are either not aware of the opportunities in the region, or potentially worse, they invest in another region in the UK. Costs for an individual company or organisation to take a stand at one of these events can often be high, so a joint stand approach between Norfolk, Suffolk and even potentially Cambridge could be a more viable option. A logical facilitator for this could be the New Anglia LEP, who has the cross-county reach and may have access to possible funding for such a project.
Jonathan Cage, chair of the Planning & Development Group said “Norfolk needs to be ready to take advantage of any and all opportunities. A unified approach across the county would help put Norfolk on the map and give potential investors confidence to bring their business to Norfolk, targeting an event such as MIPIM would give the region something to go for and would pull together public and private sector expertise and resources to really put the County on the global map.”
Norfolk County Council has launched a Budget Simulator to assist them to tackle the three-year funding gap of £182m and try to balance the 2014/15 budget whilst still protecting key services.
Any Norfolk resident can take up the challenge using the council’s online Budget Simulator that has been launched ahead of the Council’s formal budget consultation that will begin later in September. The Simulator is intended to give people an understanding of the challenges facing the County Council.
The Simulator’s starting point is that if Norfolk County Council continues to spend the same amount on services as it does now, there would be a £73m shortfall (8.8%) next year (2014/15)*, part of a £182m funding gap over the next three years. This is because of cuts in Government funding, increased costs and higher service demand.
The Simulator presents six service area themes: Adult Social Care, Environment, Transport & Development, Cultural Services, Organisational Services, Children’s Services and Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service. Within these themes are a number of services where the budget can be cut, kept the same, or increased – but the overall spend has to be reduced by 8.8%. Once the budget has been balanced, the Simulator provides a glimpse of possible service consequences that could flow from the decisions that have been taken.
Steve Morphew, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Personnel, said: “The tough decisions are impossible to avoid with funding cuts on this scale. We have to get our house in order to make sure we are getting the best for the people of our county and spending the reduced amounts wisely, but there is no escaping the fact that the prospects for the next three years are grim.
“We can’t hope to please all of the people all of the time. The only way we can hope to reflect the needs and priorities for our communities is to engage in an informed debate with as many people as possible – not just those whose voices are always heard and sometimes drown out those who can’t shout as loud.
“We hope the Simulator will be an easier way to get an understanding of what gets spent and how spending different proportions on different priorities affects the overall budget. It is intended to help individuals and organisations get ready for the consultation that starts later this month.
“The council budget can be sprawling, detailed and complex. Instead of using that as an excuse we are trying to find ways of helping people understand and get involved in deciding spending priorities. We are launching this under the banner ‘Norfolk – Putting People First’ so our first job is to make sure people can be heard.”
Click here to go to the Budget Simulator Challenge
Our Business Awards are back and we’re celebrating achievement, innovation and diversity shown by businesses in Broadland and South Norfolk.
Nominate your business for one or more of our 10 awards; we have added five new categories to recognise the challenges of the past 18 months, including Outstanding Employer, Business Resilience, Working Together, Business Innovation and Business in the Community.
We also have our Retailer of the Year award open for public nomination. If you have a favourite independent retailer that goes the extra mile nominate them today and you could win £100 of shopping vouchers.
If you’re a retailer, make sure you request a marketing pack to encourage your customers to nominate you.
With the support of our headline sponsor Fosters Solicitors, we will showcase the best of Broadland and South Norfolk’s talent at an awards ceremony on 23 March 2022 at Norwich City Football Club.
Notice is hereby given that the 117th Annual General Meeting of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce & Industry will be held at the Norwich City Football Club, Carrow Road, Norwich on Friday 11th October 2013. Registration will be at 9:30am, for meeting commencement at 9:45am. Please see attached all papers relevant to the meeting.
Commenting on the publication of an independent review of infrastructure by Sir John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Development Authority, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber, said:
“Infrastructure allows Norfolk business to function. Yet for too many decades, we’ve seen plan after plan, strategy after strategy – but little delivery on the ground.
“Sir John Armitt is one of the few people in Britain who knows what it really takes to deliver a major project, and his new report sets out some welcome ideas on how to break our infrastructure logjam.
“An independent infrastructure commission could help end what we call ‘Stop-Start’ Britain, and promote greater business investment. Our infrastructure needs, from roads to rails to airports to major energy projects, should be assessed by real experts. Politicians should be in the hot seat to deliver infrastructure projects, rather than just debating it endlessly.”
The LSA is the leading sustainability network for law firms and the UK legal sector. It is a collaborative network which allows its members to share best practice and to work together to ensure law firms play a full part in tackling the climate crisis. The LSA provides members with access to a range of tools, resources and advice to help firms become sustainable.
Howes Percival has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and its dedicated Environmental Committee has already embarked on a series of initiatives to reach this target which include reducing the use of paper, optimising recycling across offices and reducing the volume of marketing materials.
“As the COP26 Climate Change Conference shines a light on global environmental issues, we are really excited to do our part and push forward in our sustainability journey by joining the LSA. Reducing our environmental impact is a key priority for Howes Percival and we are really pleased to join a network of like-minded organisations”.
The road to responsible growth – this edition centres on the pharmaceuticals and life sciences sector. In the report, we make the argument that a focus on innovative medicines, lifecycle affordability, and geographic diversity will provide the springboard for responsible growth. The report sets sector challenges and opportunities in their economic context and offers five tangible suggestions of what to do next.
PwC’s Green Jobs Barometer measures the relative performance of UK regions and industry sectors on their progress developing green jobs* over time. It aims to build an evidence base to assess and support a fair transition to net zero.
The report highlights ‘the triple squeeze’ facing consumers through rising inflation, higher interest rates and fiscal changes going into 2022. The report also notes that regional polarisation caused by the pandemic has been significantly more severe than any previous downturn, and explores some of the drivers of this disparity.
Electrical Inspection Solutions (EIS) is a family run company that has been in business for over four years that specialises in electrical safety testing services such as thermographic surveys, fixed wired testing and portable appliance testing. Although their main office is in the Norwich city centre they also have bases in Leeds, Newcastle and Harlow.
Despite offering a national service throughout the UK, Alan Bainbridge, Operations Manager, is looking to concentrate on Norfolk, to remain cost effective. “We like to think our biggest asset is our workforce. As a family run company, we rely on our staff being friendly, polite and reliable. We currently employ five people; three full-time and two part-time. We also work in partnership with fifteen engineers who are trained by us. All of our staff are approved contractors and are fully trained.”
Alan continued “We are a customer based company, so we make sure our customer service skills are second to none. The company is growing steadily, although, we are being held back slightly by the current economic climate. Keeping our prices competitive with the smaller, cheaper companies is a challenge. Our key message is that our services are guaranteed. We follow the guidelines precisely and make sure that any job we do is completed, and absolutely safe. We endeavor to go that one step further for our customers every time, no job is too big, or too small.”
With every call-out service, there are a number of problems that companies have to deal with. “Due to this business being so volatile, we often find that jobs are cancelled with short notice, even to the point where our staff are already on route to the job, we have to accept this, be polite to the customer, and move onto the next job.”
“Here at Electrical Inspections solutions we like to make sure that our staff feels valued. Many of our staff are from a military background, and we feel that this gives our company the solid foundations needed to cope in such a high pressure industry. We focus heavily on man management with our staff’
Finding the right premises is extremely important to get the best out of a business. “We’re currently located in Cavell House, but we’re looking to build new offices on my own private land,” says Alan. “This is more of a long to mid-term plan, for the moment we are happy with the premises we are based at.”
Electrical Inspections Solutions was created by the brother of Alan Bainbridge and was funded by his own savings at the time. In 2012, the company had a turnover of around two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, a huge one hundred percent increase from 2011. Alan has no current plans to start offering the services of EIS internationally as, to remain cost effective, he feels it would be best to focus on the local area, and grow from there.
Alan Bainbridge has some advice for anyone who is looking to become a member of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce: “When we joined the chamber, we were looking to promote ourselves thoroughly around Norfolk as to attract some local customers. The Norfolk Chamber has, and continues to help us do this incredibly well. Everybody at the Chamber who I have spoken to has been so polite and helpful and I cannot thank them enough.” EIS currently have an offer available for Chamber members on their services which can be found on our LinkedIn profile.
Read the latest updates issued by the Export Control Organisation including details about imposition of arms embargoes, Open General Export Licence amendments or announcements about Control List changes.
Notice to Exporters 2013/22 On 27 May 2013 the EU agreed to lift the arms embargo against Syria while retaining all other trade and financial sanctions. The UK has decided to impose national controls on the supply of certain equipment that might be used for internal repression and which was previously subject to EU-wide embargo.
Notice to Exporters 2013/23 On 21 August 2013, in response to the increasing levels of violence in Egypt, the Member States of the European Union agreed to suspend all export licensing to Egypt for equipment which might be used for internal repression.
Notice to Exporters 2013/24 Notice 2013/23 announced the suspension of export licensing for Egypt of any equipment which might be used for internal repression, following the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 21 August. This suspension will apply to extant licences and new licence applications for the Egyptian Army, Air Force and Internal Security Forces or Ministry of the Interior until further notice.
The Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be working in partnership with Suffolk Chamber , Orbis Energy, Archant and the New Anglia LEP to deliver the Norfolk & Suffolk GREEN 100
Fifty businesses will be identified from each county with the celebration launch on 8 November. The GREEN 100 will celebrate the innovative and entrepreneurial approach shown by Norfolk and Suffolk businesses. It will promote home grown green business initiatives providing recognition for their efforts.
Entry Deadline is 7 October so please enter as soon as possible www.green100.co.uk , and get your organisation recognised for its contribution to the green economy.