Member Article

North East businesses head for Parliament

Business leaders from Hartlepool will be making a visit to the Houses of Parliament today to showcase the area’s assets parliamentary decision makers. Representatives from eight companies will spend several days at the Palace of Westminster to promote Hartlepool as a business destination to the country’s most influential people.

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, who has spearheaded the visit, said: “To be frank, people have stereotypical views of the town. They think of Hartlepool United’s re-election years, the monkey-hanging legend and more recently the canoeist story.

“Reputation is everything in business and I hope this visit goes some way to challenging those views and showcasing what the town is really like. The regeneration that has gone on, the great opportunities we have here and the real spirit of the town. “Businesses can relocate anywhere in the world these days and I want them to have the confidence to come to Hartlepool.”

The visiting party consists of local businesspeople as well as council representatives and local regeneration experts.

Andrea Miles, manager of Hartlepool Enterprise Centre, said: “In Hartlepool we don’t blow our own trumpets enough. Other towns do and get all of the plaudits so we wanted to redress the balance. “When this opportunity came up we jumped on it. We have so much to shout about; the Marina, the Tall Ships Race and the many opportunities for businesses that locate here.

“There’s a few of the delegates using the opportunity to network whilst we are in London so hopefully it will be a very worthwhile trip.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .