24 business breakfast Guildford businesses encouraged
to help create their own futures Government Whip and Guildford MP Anne Milton urged local businesses to be more vociferous and speak up for their futures when she was guest speaker at a breakfast seminar in the town this summer
It may have been American independence day, but thoughts were very much closer to home as issues that are hampering business progress in Guildford and Surrey came under the spotlight, at the seminar organised by chartered accountants and business advisers Wilkins Kennedy and The Business Magazine, writes John Burbedge.
With increasing signs of a sustained UK economic recovery, business confidence is rising and many more companies are planning investments or tentatively implementing their plans to grow, notably in overseas markets – yet many still face local hurdles.
Skills shortages, poor infrastructure (affecting both travel and digital effectiveness), lack of housing for staff, health, planning, taxation, red tape and funding were all local issues brought to Anne Milton’s attention by those attending.
She put forward her own views and listened attentively, but, being a mother of four and having lived in Surrey since 1994, Milton understands only too well the problems facing the south east in general and Guildford in particular.
Accepting that as an MP she is paid to listen and assist her constituents, Milton politely turned the tables on the audience: “I hear mostly about what people don’t want. I don’t hear about what they do want. I think the business community in Guildford should get involved with that. I hear very little from them.”
The location and lifestyle of Guildford and its environs was always going to make it a desirable place to live and work, said Milton. The challenge
stakeholder submissions to the Government’s local and regional growth funds.
Solutions to local challenges didn’t always have to cost huge sums, she suggested. Modification of personal behaviours, for drivers or a workforce, might lessen traffic congestion or through flexible working boost employee retention.
Supporting Michael Gove’s drive for higher standards of education, Anne Milton welcomed the multi-academy trust approach taken last year by the Guildford Education Partnership, and Surrey’s high status in the provision of professional training courses. “Striving for the best possible education is the way that we will grow our skills.”
She also noted that innovation and commercial competition was now occurring in the higher academic sector, driven by students flexing their fee-paying consumer muscle – making their views known.
Ken Young, Wilkins Kennedy, with Anne Milton MP
economic environment that would better suit their business community.
“Say what you want, you’ve got to get your voice out there,” she said, encouraging the local business community to collaborate and become more involved for mutual benefit with governmental, education, health and voluntary sectors.
Welcomed by Ken Young, managing partner for Wilkins Kennedy in Guildford, Anne Milton gave an insight into her 25- year career as a nurse, before becoming a Conservative MP.
She accepted that challenges had been created by the difficult but necessary
Milton revealed one local company had introduced a healthy-lifestyle campaign, and so reduced its staff sickness figures, which improved its productivity and profit levels within two years.
was to protect its attributes while providing the opportunity for businesses to operate successfully in the future – the delicate balance between the needs and wants of the region.
She suggested companies should continue to voice their concerns, but also, and perhaps more importantly, their proposals as to what might resolve such issues and help create a future local
www.businessmag.co.uk
decisions taken by the Coalition Government in realigning the national economy – but the Government wasn’t going to get complacent now and drop “the precious piece of china” it was carefully holding.
However, support for solutions to local challenges such as traffic congestion, housing, and skills (attraction and retention) is available through
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – SEPTEMBER 2014
Reflecting on the event, Bob Southey, partner for Wilkins Kennedy Guildford, said: “Anne spoke passionately about Guildford and in particular the areas of health, education and the local infrastructure. The event gave members of the Guildford business community an opportunity to raise questions on matters concerning them, which led to a wide ranging and at times lively but good humoured debate. We are very grateful that Anne was able to spare the time to attend our breakfast meeting and make it such a success.”
“If you want a successful business, you can look to government for favourable tax regimes, less red tape, incentives and grants etc, but actually you can do a great deal too – in terms of looking after your workforce through skills training, apprenticeships etc and providing an environment that motivates them.”
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