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Business leaders and councils lead the final push in A11 dualling campaign

The fight to dual the remaining single carriageway stretch of the A11 has entered the final straight.

A public enquiry opened on 24 November into the Highways Agency's £135m scheme, with both Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils and Shaping Norfolk's Future, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and the Gateway A11 East Group giving evidence strongly backing the plans.

The inquiry is due to finish on Friday (4 December) with a site visit by the Inspector.  The five groups make a number of arguments in their written evidence including:

• The direct and wider economic benefits of the scheme run to well over £600m over 60 years
• Strong public support - 16,000 people signed the Dual the A11 petition
• Widespread support from businesses, who believe it will unlock the potential of the Norfolk economy
• Norwich is the largest city in the UK not connected directly to a motorway by dual carriageway
• It will help deliver future growth envisaged by the Government for Norwich and Thetford.

Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils joined forces during the summer of 2008 with Shaping Norfolk's Future and Norfolk Chamber of Commerce to successfully lobby members of the East of England Regional Planning Panel urging them to make completing the dualling of the A11 a top priority - something which was crucial to the success of the campaign.

The County Council then helped to lead a public campaign with partners to persuade Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to bring forward the dualling of the single carriageway stretch of the road, which culminated with Mr Hoon announcing last autumn he was giving the scheme the go ahead, subject to a public inquiry.

Key decisions on NDR and Postwick

The Government is aiming to make key decisions before Christmas on 'programme entry' for the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR), and funding for Postwick junction and Park & Ride improvements.

If the NDR is approved for ‘programme entry', the Government will release £21m for the Postwick Hub improvement (subject to planning and statutory procedures) with the prospect of work starting at Postwick early in 2010. Although a route for the NDR has been adopted by Norfolk County Council, this is still subject to the full planning processes.

The results of a business survey, carried out as part of the autumn ‘Transport for Norwich' consultation (see www.norfolk.gov.uk/norwichtransport ) have been used to support the case for the NDR and Postwick improvement.

• 78% said the NDR would have a positive impact on their business.
• Almost half of these (37% out of 78%) said the benefit would be large.

• 55% said accessibility by road was a weakness of their current location.

Comments that accompanied this response included:

• "Transport is a problem ... it is almost easier to get to London than north Norwich."
• "People from outside Norfolk view us as being in a backwater that they can't get to without spending hours in traffic jams."
• "Congestion causes delay/ wasted time". "Roads in and out of Norwich are poor."

When asked about prospects for the future:

• 57% of companies said they were considering expanding their business.

But

• Most of these (83%) said the provision of adequate transport would influence their decision.
• Nine out of ten companies considering relocation out of Norfolk said that lack of adequate transport infrastructure was a contributory factor.

Your views wanted on next year's Budget

To help balance next year's budget, we are proposing to raise extra money by increasing council tax by no more than 2%.

This will still leave us £24m short of what we need for services. £5m of the extra costs we face next year comes from the Government requiring us to do more and more things, but expecting local people to pay for them.

We aim to make £19m efficiency savings next year from cost cutting, service changes, cutting staff numbers, driving harder bargains when we buy services and more efficient ways of working. But we need to find even more. Here are some of the ways we propose to find this money:

Streamlining management
We are reviewing our management structures to streamline the organisation.

More realistic charging
The Government sets some charges but we set others. We plan to ask users to pay more towards the costs of providing some services and reduce or remove some of the subsidies currently provided by council taxpayers for others. We will continue to offer discounts for people who receive benefits.

Staff costs
We are assuming that there will be a wage freeze next year for public sector workers, except those whose pay rises are decided by national pay review bodies, such as teachers and firefighters.

Driving harder bargains
We will continue to use our considerable buying power to drive down costs and join with others where we can, to make public money work even harder.

Targeting our spending better
Voluntary agencies provide many services on our behalf and every year, we spend almost £29m of your money buying them. This year we plan to review many of these contracts and buy (or commission) only those which meet priority needs.

Absorbing the costs of inflation
We usually increase budgets in line with inflation to help services meet cost rises etc. This year, we have asked services to find other savings to manage those extra costs.

Your can email your views to haveyoursay@norfolk.gov.uk

Please respond by 22 January 2010, so we can share your comments with members at the Cabinet meeting on 25 January. Cabinet will then recommend a budget to a meeting of Full Council on 15 February.

For more information about next year's Budget, click here

Click here for the latest edition of Norfolk Matters, our newsletter for stakeholders

Click here to read more about Norfolk Forward, featured in the last edition of the ezine.

Free UEA-led skills training

Free skills training is available to individuals, businesses and community organisations affected by the downturn.

More than 500 Norfolk-based individuals and 100 organisations are already making the most of the training, which is co-funded by Norfolk County Council and based at the University of East Anglia.

It is aimed at:

• Middle managers/ professionals who have been made redundant or are at risk of redundancy
• Unemployed/ underemployed recent graduates
• Small and medium businesses and voluntary and community organisations, particularly owners/ directors and senior executives.

Key areas covered include:

• Individual skills and career development sessions (career guidance, job search skills and CV feedback)
• Individual and group business coaching and skills workshops
• A wide range of skills development courses
• A graduate internship scheme to help develop a new innovation or project within a local business
• A scheme to train managers to become Carbon Champions and learn how to save and make money from the low-carbon economy
• A mentoring scheme for recent creative arts graduates.

To find out more and to register, contact Sophie Major on 01603 591816 or evolve@uea.ac.uk, or visit www.evolvenorfolk.co.uk

Banking made easy

Norfolk Credit Union and Norfolk County Council have joined forces to launch a current account for disadvantaged Norfolk residents.

We have become the first council in the east of England to support a local credit union in this way.

The account allows:

• Salary, pensions or benefits to be directly paid into it
• Access to money via the Link ATM facility
• The set-up of direct debits, standing orders, funds transfers and bill payments
• Payment for goods in shops and on the internet, where the VISA Debit sign is displayed
• Cash-back in shops displaying the VISA Debit sign.

Since the account's launch at the beginning of November, the Credit Union has sent out more than 100 application forms.

Daniel Cox, Leader of Norfolk County Council, said: "Having listened to how residents, businesses and partners felt we could most effectively help people in Norfolk through the recession, we decided that the current account would make a huge difference to the lives of a large number of people across the county.

"People who can often least afford to be paying higher rates for goods and services, simply had no choice - having to pay higher upfront rates.

"They also had a host of other issues that come with not having a bank account - ranging from gaining employment other than cash-in-hand, to the security aspect of having to store their cash, and of course carrying it before paying for goods. They are also totally excluded from the benefits of online shopping that many of us take for granted.

"This should now be a thing of the past. A one pound membership fee and one pound deposit is all that's needed to join Norfolk Credit Union and get the account started."

The current account has been made possible by a £150,000 grant from the County Council, with the account run by NCU, and backed by the Co-operative Bank.  For more information about Norfolk Credit Union, go to www.norfolkcu.co.uk

Know your consumers' rights

Any business offering goods or services to the public knows how important it is that customers keep coming back.

And the latest free course from Business Link and the Trading Standards Institute aims to help businesses maintain good customer satisfaction.

Staff can increase their knowledge of consumer rights by sitting two training modules, The Sale of Goods Act and The Supply of Goods and Services. These are available online and count towards the Fair Trading Award (FTA).

There's more information at Business Link's Know your Consumers' Rights webpage.

For further business advice and guidance from Trading Standards, please visit our Trading Standards page for businesses.

Sign up for scam alerts

Norfolk County Council Trading Standards is urging businesses to sign up for scam alerts and help combat fraudsters.

We email the alerts to businesses to flag up new scams and any new variants of scams from the past.

Recent scams include an invoicing fraud whereby the fraudster sends false invoices to companies in the hope they will go through unnoticed. 

Sometimes this may include a telephone call from the fraudster to make the target think they have bought something from them in the past, such as space in a non-existent publication.

As well as being alerted of the latest scams you may also opt for important news and legislation updates from the service.

Your information will not be passed to any third parties and you can unsubscribe at anytime.  Find out more about business scams by visiting our dedicated webpage www.norfolk.gov.uk/businessscams

Sign up for scam alerts by clicking here  

Sell your services to Europe!

In common with countries across Europe, the Government is finalising plans that will make it easier for businesses to set up or offer their services anywhere in the EU (and the European Economic Area, which includes Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein).

Most service sectors are covered - such as accountants, builders, vets, travel agents, hair stylists, consultants...

As a UK business, from the end of 2009 you will benefit from:

• Electronic portals called ‘Points of Single Contact' in each EU country. You will be able to find out in one place all the information you need to do business in a particular country (or region of a country) and, crucially complete any required applications and licences electronically.
• Less red tape and reduced barriers to trade across Europe. All EU countries are removing or amending regulatory and administrative barriers that make it difficult to trade across borders, eg requirements based on nationality.
• Streamlined regulation.  Having supplied information to a UK regulator you should not need to supply the same information to the equivalent regulator in another EU country.
• A wider customer base. For individual businesses, this initiative (the Services Directive) will provide opportunities to diversify into new markets, secure new customers and make new business relationships.

For further information, including which sectors are in and outside the scope of this initiative, please visit the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website at www.bis.gov.uk/servicesdirective or email servicesdirective@bis.gsi.gov.uk with any queries.

Flyers about the initiative can also be found here: www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51036.pdf and
www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51035.pdf

Future Jobs Fund update

Norfolk County Council is taking forward the £6.6m Future Jobs Fund programme on behalf of the Norfolk Strategic Partnership.

Through the programme, funded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), we are set to give more than 1,000 young people jobs in Norfolk over the next 18 months. It is part of our continuing support to businesses and individuals during the economic downturn.

We have worked hard with partners to identify job opportunities, and over 300 young people, who have to have been out of work for approaching 12 months, are due to begin new jobs by the end of December. 

We also submitted a second bid to Government at the end of November, following work with a wider range of partners.  In view of the high levels of youth unemployment, we are still focussing on young people aged 18 to 24. 

However, it will have a slightly different flavour - there are a number of museums and educational facilities involved in Round 2, and there are plans for an increased number of jobs in the environmental sector.  We have also worked to identify jobs in parts of Norfolk which we felt were under represented in Round 1.

World Class Norfolk update

Poster advertising rolled out in November at major train stations in London and Norfolk to support the World Class Norfolk campaign, including a poster in Westminster featuring 33 luminaries past and present with links to Norfolk. 

Click here to find out more about some of the famous names featured.

The World Class Norfolk campaign was launched in early September with television commercials and prompted national media interest including the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard and on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The campaign website www.worldclassnorfolk.com is attracting over 1,500 unique visitors each month, and almost 100 images of world class Norfolk have been uploaded to the site by the public.  Online banner advertising will also run on various websites including FT.com until next March.

The campaign team has also been out and about at business events in recent weeks including Norfolk Network, Destination Growth and Shaping Norfolk's Future, handing out World Class Norfolk fact cards and talking about the campaign. 

A campaign pack is available on request which includes suggestions on how businesses can get involved with the campaign and downloadable campaign branding.

Visit the campaign website at www.worldclassnorfolk.com
Follow the campaign on Twitter @Team_Norfolk.
A World Class Norfolk Group has been set up on Linkedin - please join!

City College SME Survey

City College Norwich would like the help of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a survey on elearning.

Research shows that SMEs may face particular barriers in terms of staff development and training - particulary financial and time constraints. 

In view of the demands on SMEs, particularly in the current economic climate, this survey aims to explore your preferences, knowledge, and potential interest in elearning. 

This information will help the college develop programmes which best meet your needs. 

Click here to give your views

News in Brief

New Cabinet members

Norfolk County Council Leader Daniel Cox has announced changes to his Cabinet, in a move to strengthen the authority in the critical areas of finance, efficiency and the economy.

Ann Steward is now the Cabinet Member for Economic Development.  Mrs Steward represents Swaffham, is also a district councillor for Breckland District Council and a governor of Hamond's High School in Swaffham. 

She said she was thrilled to be taking on this high profile area of work: "Creating a vibrant economy for Norfolk is one of the County Council's top three priorities. 

"Obviously now is a challenging time and I will be working very hard with both the Economic Development team and our partners on those issues that are most important at the moment - helping Norfolk businesses to prepare for the economic upturn, ensuring that they have the skills they need to be competitive and that the planned growth in the county is matched by the development of sustainable and high quality jobs."

She has a background in the travel industry, and her family farms locally - both of which stand her in good stead for the work Economic Development and its partners do on promoting Norfolk's tourism offer and helping rural businesses to diversify.  

Ian Mackie (pictured left) is now Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance, a newly-created Cabinet position. Mr Mackie represents Thorpe St Andrew and has been a county councillor since 2005. He works as a senior manager in Norwich, has been a school governor for 10 years and was previously Deputy Cabinet Member for Children's Services. 

And Bill Borrett (pictured right) is Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and Efficiency, which replaces Corporate and Commercial Services. Mr Borrett, who will oversee the efficiency programme, represents Elmham and Mattishall and joined the County Council at the last election. He has worked at director level for worldwide real estate company, Hamptons International.

In other changes, Derrick Murphy, currently Cabinet Member for Cultural Services and Deputy Leader of the Council, has also assumed responsibility for Customer Services and Communications.

And Tony Williams will remain on the Board of Norse and retain responsibility for Commercial Services.

Click here for the November press release

Local Transport Plan consultation

As well as asking for your views on Norfolk County Council's spending plans for 2010/11, we are also about to start consulting on our proposals for transport and infrastructure improvements, under our Local Transport Plan for the whole county. 

More details will be available in the new year and we will tell you how you can give your feedback formally on these proposals.

Free Business Link training

A range of free courses are available from Business Link between now and next March.

They include ways to increase sales in a challenging economy, how to draw people to your website and how to deal with difficult customers.

For more information, call Business Link on 0845 601 1000 or go to www.bookevents.org and put in your postcode to see what's happening near you.

Free Business Link training

A range of free courses are available from Business Link between now and next March.

They include ways to increase sales in a challenging economy, how to draw people to your website and how to deal with difficult customers.

For more information, call Business Link on 0845 601 1000 or go to www.bookevents.org and put in your postcode to see what's happening near you.

View this eMagazine online at:
http://www.norfolkpublications.org.uk/businessmatters