The economic outlook for Coventry and Warwickshire is positive, a major conference has heard.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce marked its 110th anniversary at its annual conference at Stoneleigh Park where 250 key business and civic leaders from across the region gathered.
Speakers at the conference, sponsored by Santander and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), included Chamber president Amrik Bhabra, MPs Marcus Jones and Chris White as well as a video address from Business Secretary Vince Cable.
Barry Naisbitt, chief economist of Santander, LEP chairman Sir Peter Rigby and Gerald Ratner were the three keynote speakers while the event was facilitated by Dr Adam Marshall, head of policy, at the British Chambers of Commerce.
Bhabra kicked off the event by paying tribute those who had supported the Chamber over the course of the last 110 years in its efforts to help businesses across the region.
He said: “This is a tribute to the generations of business leaders who have served as board and committee members for the Chamber, and as presidents, ably supported by Chamber staff.
“Their combined efforts – in good times and bad – have made a major contribution to our area’s economic strength.”
Naisbitt said Coventry and Warwickshire was well-placed to take advantage of the recovery, which is expected to continue into next year at a ‘sustainable pace’.
He said the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to peg rates at 0.5 per cent unless unemployment fell below seven per cent had removed one of the ‘uncertainties’ for many families.
“The challenges remain,” he said, “but the economic outlook is more positive.”
Naisbitt’s speech was followed by a video address from Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable who said Chambers of Commerce across the country had a critical role to play.
MPs Marcus Jones and Chris White then took questions from Adam Marshall and from the floor before Sir Peter Rigby was quizzed by Marshall and spoke at length about the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s part in growing the regional economy.
He said: “We have had to bring together the private sector, the public sector and our universities – and it has been a challenge.
“But, broadly speaking, we have managed to do it and have got everybody working together. The LEP is very much business led, but working for collective aims is crucial.
“We’ve raised £122.9 million of investment for the region through various funds and pots of money such as RGF, ERDF and Growing Places.
“The City Deal proposal we have been working on is the single most important piece of work we are doing. It is a sustainable business support strategy which will offer a single point of contact for manufacturing and engineering companies to access support to grow their business.
“We would start with advanced manufacturing and engineering companies but there is no reason why it couldn’t work in other sectors.”
The final keynote speech was given by Gerald Ratner, who gave an amusing insight into his famous mistake and how he fought back from it.