Leader Talk

Meetings with Local Businesses

05/06/2009

This morning I had a very interesting and constructive meeting with the Federation of Small Businesses in Durham.  It is always important for us to talk with local businesses about issues on their agenda to see if there is anything we can do as a County Council to help.

I hope that over time the new Unitary Council will be able to provide greater assistance than the previous two-tier system.  One of the issues which came up strongly was procurement.  There has been a Scrutiny Review of Procurement over recent weeks and this will be reported to Cabinet next Wednesday (17 June).  It is clear that small local businesses particularly want to know what we can do to make it easier for them to bid for contracts and this is an area we will be investigating over the next few months.

I have now spoken to meetings of the North East Chamber of Commerce, Co Durham Economic Partnership, South Durham Business Forum, Durham Gate Business Forum and the Federation of Small Businesses.  I am always happy to talk to such organisations though it is surprising just how many bodies there are representing businesses in Durham.  Maybe one day we can try and get everybody together in one room, then again, it would probably be as difficult as getting all political parties together in one room!