COMMENT
THE LAST WORD
KEVIN HARRIS, Chamber President, on the issues that are worth talking about
It was my great pleasure recently to welcome delegates to an evening of networking and celebration at the President’s Summer Reception at Makeney Hall. At the event, I addressed those in attendance
and identified why – despite clear and obvious challenges and uncertainty – we have cause to celebrate as a regional business community. Brexit, and the political fallout from it, are two
very good examples of how things totally outside our control can affect us on a daily basis and yet, at the same time, offer us the chance to demonstrate how good we are at overcoming adversity. Despite the difficulties, here are a few facts we can celebrate in the here and now:
• The East Midlands continues to be one of the biggest contributors to the national economy – second only to London and the Southeast
• We continue to create jobs at one of the highest rates in the country, according to ONS figures
• We continue to be the manufacturing spine of the UK
• We continue to innovate and grow
• We continue to be a world-leader for advanced technologies and gaming and continue to be very good at selling our wares around the world.
That all deserves to be celebrated, doesn’t it? Other things we should be celebrating include
the growth we’re seeing at and around East Midlands Airport, that golden triangle at the heart of our great region. Over 7,000 people now work at or for the
airport. Immediately to its north, we have the new Strategic Rail Freight Interchange, which will provide work for a further 7,000 or more people. The airport is expanding its apron so that
more aircraft can park on it. That expansion is being led by growing
demand for freight movements, an area where the airport is already a success story.
90 business network July/August 2019
‘It’s your support that gives the Chamber the capacity and capability to continuously develop products and services’
Nearby, when HS2 Phase 2b is built, we will
see phenomenal growth in housing and industry around Toton and, hopefully, significantly improved transport links between this area, the airport and our three key cities. And, of course, included in this growth area is
the soon-to-be-decommissioned Ratcliffe-on- Soar power station. The growth promised by the fulfilment of
these opportunities can’t fail to boost the region’s economy. The Chamber has worked closely with HS2 –
and with Heathrow for work on its third runway plans – to ensure local companies are involved in the supply chain for these huge projects. I would also celebrate partnerships, like the
ones between you, as members, and the Chamber, but also those the Chamber has forged with other organisations, together striving to make our great region even greater. For example D2N2 and the LLEP, where a lot
of really good work is being done to create Local Industrial Strategies to enhance the Government’s Industrial Strategy and to ensure clear cohesion between national delivery in accordance with local need. The Chamber currently sits on the Boards of
circa 130 local and regional bodies, so we do a lot of partnership working, including working alongside the Midlands Engine and Midlands Connect to improve connectivity within and beyond the region. The Chamber updated its vision earlier this
year, adding two small words but huge significance to what it hopes to achieve in the future. The old vision of ‘Enhancing East Midlands
businesses’ is now ‘Enhancing East Midlands businesses and communities’. Those two little words have added a massive
remit to the role of the Chamber but are vital to our overall ethos – after all, there is an inevitable and unbreakable link between thriving communities and thriving businesses.
It’s a courageous expansion plan but one that
has the full support of the Chamber Board. We are already receiving buy-in from many
communities and local authorities. Academia, in particular, was quick to support the expanded role to create closer ties between schools and industry. Is taking steps to close the skills gap, one of
the new initiatives, worth celebrating? I say it is. And I would celebrate each of you. It’s your
support that gives the Chamber the capacity and capability to continuously develop products and services; speak on behalf of the region’s business community in the corridors of power; work tirelessly on behalf of all members and bring about conditions in which businesses in the East Midlands can thrive and achieve further success. With around 4,250 members the Chamber is,
without doubt, the biggest business- representation organisation in the Midlands, with an influential footprint that spreads far beyond its boundaries. The Chamber has the ear of Government
ministers, Whitehall departments, local MPs, council leaders and chief executives and others of significant influence. No other business organisation in the East Midlands can offer the size, scale, reach and influence of the Chamber but it’s only with the sustained support of its members that the Chamber can provide the increasing level of service that you, our members, really want. By working together, we make businesses
stronger, support a sustainable economy, help preserve jobs and create employment opportunities for local people. Together we enable businesses to clearly
articulate to Government locally, nationally and internationally what is needed to drive our economy forward. Everyone should be rightly proud of what we
have achieved individually and collectively as a business community. Surely that’s worth celebrating.
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