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Businesses hear about Enterprise M3’s £1.4b investment plan


“Government needs to invest in success” - this was the key message from Geoff French, chairman of Enterprise M3, at the LEP’s fourth annual conference at FIVE in Farnborough.


More th 250 delegates from business, local government and the not-for-profit sector heard about collaboration between Enterprise M3 and partners, and the £1.4 billion investment plan to unlock growth across the area.


Enterprise M3 is lobbying government for an


investment of around £350 million from the Local Growth Fund which will be matched by the private and public sectors and used to implement a range of growth packages including transport, housing and skills projects.


Enterprise M3, along with the other LEPs in England, is in the process of producing a strategic economic plan for its area which sets out what the LEP and its partners plan to do over the next six years to create new jobs, increase


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the number of business start-ups and improve the productivity of local businesses.


Conference delegates heard how the economic successes across the Enterprise M3 area generate prosperity throughout the UK resulting in increased government spending power, with successful businesses fuelling a net contribution to the exchequer year-on-year.


French commented: “Enterprise M3 has really come of age in the past year and this conference has been an excellent opportunity for delegates to hear what we are already doing to drive prosperity in the M3 corridor. We are lobbying for major transport schemes, such as the A3 around Guildford and junction 9 on the M3, to start earlier than planned and for congestion hotspots to be tackled.


“We hope the Government will realise that high- performing areas like Enterprise M3 still need investment. If our area does not get the substantial investment it needs to tackle its problems with traffic congestion, insufficient housing and labour and skills shortages, there is a real risk of jeopardising the economic success of both this area and the UK as a whole.”


Delegates also heard from renowned management thinker and innovation


expert Charles Leadbeater, who gave an informative keynote speech on future trends of the global economy, the significance of innovation and the importance for all organisations, whether in the private, public or not- for-profit sectors, to start thinking like nations.


The conference was hailed by delegates as a great success, with inspiration and much food for thought from a range of speakers. These included Kate Dean, customer development director at leading South East property management company SEGRO plc; Mark Thomson, a project engineer from Farnborough-based construction company and headline sponsor Fluor; and Dr Geoff McGrath, vice- president of McLaren Applied Technologies.


French concluded: “This conference has given delegates a real insight into the exciting collaboration and innovation that is already going on within the Enterprise M3 area and also given them some pointers on what more can be done by business to work more collaboratively, more innovatively and, as a result, be more successful and profitable.”


Details: www.enterprisem3. org.uk/2014-annual- conference-presentations/


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2014


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