A recent meeting of the Chamber’s Planning & Development Group (CPDG) highlighted that the property market appears to be booming. New build residential house prices and sales are very positive, possibly as a result of the Help to Buy scheme.

The industrial property sector is also strengthening, especially as prices are becoming more realistic, however the office market is not faring as well. There is a depletion of Grade A office space in Norwich and a glut of old office stock, the majority of which is outdated and not what most modern businesses are looking for. A change in the planning regulations means that a ‘change of use’ may be possible for some of this old stock and this may result in the office market improving going forward.

The retail property sector is also ‘holding its own’ however market towns continue to stagnate as a result of supermarkets and competition from Norwich itself.

The letting market is also experience a steady upturn. A recent national survey highlighted a strong shift towards the private rental market, particularly for the younger generations, who simply cannot afford to get onto the property ladder.

Jonathan Cage, Chair of the CPDG said: “It is encouraging to see the upturn in the property market. We need to stay focussed and help drive forward growth to make the most of the opportunities in terms of both housing and the commercial sectors to boost economic growth in Norfolk.”

LV Shipping & Transport has become the first Strategic Partner of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, this partnership aims to give businesses an enhanced profile and promotion.

Since starting operations in 1921, LV Shipping & Transport has grown into a company that offers logistics solutions through their global network. The Great Yarmouth office is based on Harfrey’s Industrial Estate and offers a complete range of freight forwarding services available to businesses in Norfolk, including on-site storage and warehousing facilities.

Well established across the country, LV Shipping & Transport in the UK operates at 12 locations, dedicated to offering customers integrated and end-to-end supply chain solutions. Covering all major seaports and airports, providing clients with the most cost-effective and fastest connection across the UK and worldwide.

Kevin Walsh UK Sales Director, LV Shipping, commented saying: “The role of Chamber is to support local business and introduce them to specialist companies like LV Shipping and others who can help them with their business needs.

“We are hoping to increase our profile in Norfolk further and want to use our involvement with the Chamber as a strategic partner to demonstrate our support for the local business community here in Norfolk. We have a number of loyal customers in Great Yarmouth and Norfolk, but of course there are so many other businesses here that we have yet to meet and support.

“Our Great Yarmouth office offers a complete range of freight forwarding services. We can handle shipments by air, road and sea (import and export) and also offer full customs clearance and brokerage services which will potentially become more significant depending on the exact nature of the eventual Brexit. We have a very approachable and experienced team, if you need to know anything about or even if you are just thinking of starting to import or export and require preliminary guidance – they will be able to help.”

Kevin will be speaking on the international trade panel at The Big Debate on Friday 7 February 2020 at OPEN, Norwich.

Great Yarmouth is Britain’s principle port for the Southern North Sea Oil & Gas and renewable energy industries. A new outer harbour has increased the ports facilities to handle deep water container vessels, making it the closest link from the UK to the Netherlands and Belgium.

LV Shipping & Transport Great Yarmouth office offers a complete range of freight forwarding services, as well as Vessel support and Ships’ Agency on 24/7 basis and renewable energy logistics. You can contact the Great Yarmouth team on 01493 657755 or email yarmouth@lvshipping.com  

For more information about Strategic Partnerships click here or contact Philippa Bindley, Head of Customer Experience at Norfolk Chambers of Commerce on 01603 729703 or email Philippa.bindley@norfolkchamber.co.uk

Returning on Friday 7 February, 1pm – 4pm at OPEN Norwich, The Big Debate brings together local MPs and business leaders to influence change and give voice to Norfolk businesses.  Following on from a successful event in 2019, 2020’s event will be split into four debates looking at topics Norfolk Chambers have identified as key to the business community right now. Attendees will be able to submit questions live at the event using Sli.do, with the ability to vote for their favourite questions to be asked directly to our panels.  Our first panel on stage will look to focus on people and skills, tackling the challenge of how we recruit and retain top talent in the county. Joining us for the debate will be Richard Bacon MP for South Norfolk, Lisa Collen of Flagship Group and Becky Wilson of Pure Resourcing.  Next on the agenda will be infrastructure with the aims of looking at the impact poor fundamental facilities has on businesses and how we revolutionise Norfolk’s physical and digital infrastructure. Back in November 2019 British Chambers of Commerce reported that UK businesses are even less satisfied with UK infrastructure than they were a year ago, highlighting how important it is to bring this to the debate. This topic will be debated by Chloe Smith MP for Norwich North, Dale Curtis of Kickstart and Jonathan Cage of Create Consulting and will be followed by a break. During the break afternoon tea will be served to the tables for attendees to network and continue the discussions and debates.  After the break international trade will be up for discussion. We expect Brexit will be high on the agenda here, highlighting the support local businesses need to drive growth overseas as well as the impact Brexit will have and the changes coming into effect. We are pleased to have Kate Colchester of New Anglia LEP, Kevin Walsh of LV Shipping and Duncan Lathwell of NatWest joining us to answer your questions.  Our final topic of the afternoon will be sustainability and climate change. Our panellists will be looking at what support is needed for businesses to improve their carbon footprints, as well as how we make radical changes without impacting business as usual and lobbying for more sustainable infrastructure in Norfolk. Answering your questions will be Clive Lewis MP for Norwich South, Ali Clabburn of Liftshare and Alex Durand of SaxonAir. Whilst questions will be coming in live from attendees, there is also the opportunity to submit any burning questions in advance of the event. If you would like to submit a question on any of the four topics, you may do so here: click here to submit questions The Big Debate 2020 is sponsored by Greater Anglia and Broadland Business Park. To book your tickets click here.

Norfolk Chambers and our members are endorsing the calls from Norfolk County Council and other key stakeholder for improvements to the rate of progress for the A47 upgrades.

Highways England should be held to account for the “agonisingly slow” progress on its A47 improvements in Norfolk, the county council says.

A report by Norfolk County Council has told a national regulator of its “major concern” that work promised in 2014 and due for completion this year has not even started.

Councillor Martin Wilby, cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said: “The Government approved the funding in 2014 and Highways England should be completing improvements to the A47 this year – but it has not even started work.

“Norfolk is missing out on economic growth, new homes and jobs because of this continued delay. It’s unacceptable and we want the regulator to intervene early in cases like this.”

Transport regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is consulting public bodies on how it holds Highways England to account.

Norfolk County Council’s proposed response says that, in 2014, the Government committed £300 million to improve parts of the A47 between Great Yarmouth and Tuddenham, with work due to take place from 2015-20.  Work has not started and the council is concerned that the revised start dates of 2021/22 won’t be met.

The report says: “This is a major area of concern for the county council. The expectation when the Government announced the inclusion of the A47 schemes within the programme for 2015-2020 was that they would be constructed within that period. We have, however, yet to see a start on any of the schemes.”

The report says the council has experienced “constant churn in representation from Highways England and their consultants, coupled with a lack of knowledge about the county due to the geographical remoteness of Highways England’s operations from Norfolk.

“Progress in development and delivery of the schemes has been agonisingly slow. Norfolk is extremely concerned about the ability of Highways England to deliver such projects.”

The council is encouraging the ORR to “meaningfully intervene” at an early stage, faced by issues like this and seek early resolution.

The report will be considered by the infrastructure and development select committee next week, before being considered by the cabinet on 3rd February. You can read a copy here: https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/Meetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/496/Meeting/1599/Committee/171/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx

On a series of dates in March 2020, the Norwich Opportunity Area and City Academy Norwich are launching a Growth Sector Competition with year 8 students.  Working in groups they are being challenged to research New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership’s growth areas; then create a poster; and present back to their year group.

The students will have a wide range to choose from, as the NALEP growth areas include:

• Energy
• Digital, ICT & Creative
• Life Sciences
• Advance Manufacturing
• Construction & Development
• Port & Logistics
• Financial Services & Insurance
• Visitor Economy
• Agriculture, Food & Drink

They will be looking at the definition of the sector; the types of companies in Norfolk/Norwich who represent it; the job roles, pay scales, and entry routes etc.  

But they do need some support from the local business community to make this a success.  The Norwich Opportunity Area and City Academy Norwich are looking for business representatives from each of these sectors to support the activity by giving short presentations over the project on their sector and answering any questions the students may have at a school assembly on the following dates:

Thursday 13 February 2020

Thursday 12 March 2020

Thursday 19 March 2020

Assemblies run from 8.45am – 9.05am and they plan to have 2 guest speakers for each, allowing 10 mins for each speaker.  Speakers will then be invited back for the finale (Thursday 26th March – if they are available) to see the posters the students have created and help choose the winner!

Ideally, they are looking for at least one representative from a business in each of the growth areas – can your business spare an hour to take part?  If you are able to help or would like more information, please contact: madeleine.matthews@newanglia.co.uk

The latest report for Norwich City Council has highlighted the business confidence continues to climb. The BDO LLP report highlighted that business optimism was at its highest level for 22 years in January, suggesting the economy will continue to grow rapidly over the coming six months. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to maintain interest rates at 0.5 per cent this month, despite the lower than target inflation rate

The number of apprenticeship vacancies in the East of England posted online between August and October increased by 23% to 3,640, according to figures from the National Apprenticeship Service. Meanwhile online applications for apprenticeships rose by 33% to 39,600 in the region.

Construction has begun at Pointers Field on the first affordable homes that Norwich City Council has built in the city for more than 20 years. These new Norwich City Council 6 homes are of huge significance. Not only as the first council homes to be built for a considerable period of time, but also as the first milestone in the council’s commitment to building an additional 250 homes across the city over the next five years, as set out in the latest housing strategy.

The full report is attached.