Business News


More space for cyclists


The Government has given councils across the West Midlands a £17.4m handout to create more space for cycling and walking. This follows a survey that


claims that two thirds of people support reallocating road space for these two pursuits. The handout will fund


various measures, including the closure of streets around schools to motorists, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), where residential side streets are closed to through traffic to stop rat-runs, segregated cycle lanes and pedestrian improvements. The Government claims


these measure will give people ‘more opportunities to choose cycling and walking for their day-to-day journeys’, as part of its wider plans to ‘boost active travel’. However, Transport


Secretary Grant Shapps has set out a number of new conditions on councils getting the new funding, in an attempt to ensure the public is consulted.


‘65 per cent of people across England support reallocating road space to cycling and walking in their local area’


Mr Shapps said he had


concerns over some of the schemes introduced ahead of the new initiative, such as many of the pavement widenings installed in town centres by councils using barriers. These, he said, could ‘prevent pedestrians from crossing the road, cause congestion for buses and motor traffic, and impede access for kerbside businesses’. The survey which is being


used to show public support for turning roads into cycle lanes has been carried out by Kantar Media, and claims 65 per cent of people across England support reallocating road space to cycling and walking in their local area. The Transport Secretary


said: “Whether you’re walking, cycling, driving or using public transport, people must have the space they need to get around safely.”


Code of practice to promote racial equality is launched


A new code of practice to help boards of directors in promoting race equality has been launched. The code of practice has been put together by Dr


Karl George, who runs Birmingham-based The Governance Forum (TGF), and various other contibutors, including Bishop Derek Webley, co- chairman of the Windrush enquiry. The Chamber is one of the first organisations in the


city to adopt the new ‘RACE Equality Code’, and Dr George is now seeking backing from the Prime Minister for the project.


‘We are at a critical juncture in history with a real opportunity to target the embedded practice and consequences of structural racism’


RACE is an acronym for ‘Reporting, Action,


Composition and Education’, which are the four key principles behind the code. Dr George has written an open letter to Prime Boris


Johnson about the code, which says: “Racial tensions being played out across the world have brought new focus to the lack of racial diversity in the leadership of many organisations. “We are at a critical juncture in history with a real opportunity to target the embedded practice and consequences of structural racism. It is imperative that we act at this tipping point on race equality.” The letter asks for the PM’s support on three points,


which are to talk about race ‘unapologetically’, and sign up to and report on four key principles from the code. The final point is to sign up 100 organisations to the code this month. Dr George and his colleagues have also highlighted initiatives from credit agency Moodys and financial


Tipping point: Dr Karl George


services company, Legal & General, which are aimed at challenging companies to improve boardroom diversity, saying: “The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform non-diverse companies on profitability.” The RACE Code was launched last month at the The


Lunar Society’s Sir Adrian Cadbury Lecture. Chamber chief executive Paul Faulkner, chief


executive of the GBCC, said: “We fully support Karl in his admirable efforts to promote race equality from the board and into every other elements of business. “We are proud to be early adopters of the code and


will use our resources to promote it to the wide business community in Greater Birmingham.”


UK and Kenya secure trade deal


The Chamber has welcomed news that the UK is poised to sign a trade agreement with Kenya. If the deal goes ahead, it will be


the sixth post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and an African country. Kenya's economy is the largest in


eastern and central Africa, with agriculture being particularly important. Two of the principal cash crops


are tea and coffee, and Kenya is also the third largest exporter of cut flowers, with this industry concentrated mainly to the north- west of the capital, Nairobi. Despite being generally regarded


as a low middle-income country, manufacturing accounts for around 14 per cent of the Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP), with activity dominated by food- processing industries, such as breweries and sugar cane pulping. Not surprisingly, Government


statistics show that the top goods imports to the UK from Kenya in 2019 were coffee, tea and spices,


18 CHAMBERLINK December 2020/January 2021 Coffee is among top imported goods


vegetables and live trees and plants, mostly flowers. The UK market accounts for 43


per cent of Kenya’s exports of vegetables as well as at least nine per cent of cut flowers, and according to the government, the new agreement will support Kenyans working in these sectors by maintaining tariff-free market access to the UK. Chamber international director


Mandy Haque said: “The announcement of a trade agreement between the UK and Kenya is very positive and is a


great step forward in strengthening relationships in new markets with commonwealth countries. “Agriculture is one of the main


trading sectors between the two countries and top goods imported to the UK in 2019 included tea, coffee, spices, vegetables and flowers. “As the largest economy in East


Africa and among the top ten across the continent, Kenya is an important trading partner for the UK.”


UK international trade minister


Ranil Jayawardena said: “This deal gives businesses the certainty that they’ll be able to continue trading as they do now, supporting jobs and livelihoods in both our countries. “I look forward to forging further


trade ties with Kenya - the largest economy in the region - and working with other East African countries to agree trade continuity, harnessing free and fair trade to secure shared prosperity for our peoples.”


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