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Economic growth is important to North Tyneside

I’m delighted to have been asked by bDaily to write a regular piece for their website.

It’s been a few months since I started having regular meetings with businesses in North Tyneside to listen to their experiences, plans and the challenges they face in the current global economic climate.

Whilst the businesses have varied hugely one thing stands out to me above all. That is the passion and dedication of those entrepreneurs and business leaders for their business and for the local staff they employ.

On the back of it, I’ve also had emails and letters from companies who have explained to me the challenges they face in trading and growing their businesses. These matters have varied greatly – from tax to planning, to late payment of invoices, to understanding how they may benefit from the regeneration in North Tyneside and the exciting developments on the North Bank of the Tyne.

Wherever possible, I’ve strived to support the needs of businesses, particularly those small and medium-sized enterprises as they are the engine room of our economy.

But we have to be clear about expectations. The Council alone cannot solve all problems itself, but it can have a strong supporting role as well as work through its alliances with bodies such as the Local Enterprise Partnership to resolve the very real challenges businesses face.

However, as a local authority we do all we can to support businesses in North Tyneside, taking a pro-active approach through our Business and Enterprise Team to support business development of all sizes, from the smallest start-up enterprises to major companies on our Strategic Account Management System. We have a thriving local Business Forum which attracts a range of sectors together to network, discuss and provide peer to peer support. This has gone from strength to strength and I am pleased to hear of the involvement from firms as well as the growth being stimulated by it and its spin-out sector specific forums.

The Team also now have links with UK Trade and Investment, giving us access to a pipeline of potential international investors that we can attract to North Tyneside. If you are a business in North Tyneside then I would strongly encourage you to make contact with our Business and Enterprise Team if you haven’t already. The Team offer a range of support services and a single point of contact for your engagement with the Council. They can be contacted on 0191 643 6401 or business@northtyneside.gov.uk.

Much has been made about the frailty of the UK economy, but the North East is showing stronger signs of robustness than elsewhere. We already have outstanding performance from our manufacturers and exporters, outstripping the performance of anywhere else in the country. There is a sense of growing confidence about the area and we must talk up what we are doing and not allow negativity to creep in. I believe that it is vital that whilst we continue to face some significant challenges, we do not decry what our business sector is already doing.

But we are not to be complacent because there is much still left to do, as yesterday’s employment figures demonstrated.

In North Tyneside we want to build on our strong and varied base. We have attracted top companies such as Santander, Tesco Bank, Insure the Box and GE Money to the area, providing much needed jobs and skills. In manufacturing, companies such as SMD, Bridon Ropes and Chirton Engineering, WD Close are leading the world in their fields and receiving recognition on a global scale showing that this part of the world is having a significant economic impact.

Ministerial colleagues from Westminster have been very interested in hearing the experiences of businesses in North Tyneside, and have asked me to continue to update them on developments.

I will continue to regularly update my blog throughout the year, highlighting issues that have come to my attention as a result of these visits as well as what I as Elected Mayor, and North Tyneside Council, alongside our partners can and have done to respond to these.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mrs Linda Arkley .