Help business help Sheffield City Region call to leaders

21st June 2012

Provide us with an environment for growth that is the key message businesses have given to Sheffield City Region leaders.

Sheffield Chamber of Commerce President Suzanne Liversidge and executive director Richard Wright provided Sheffield City Council leader Julie Dore and council chief executive John Mothersole with a copy of Manifesto for Growth 2012. The 15-page document will be at the pinnacle of the business community's policy and lobbying movement during the coming year, targeting senior politicians, civil servants and even business itself on the key issues that the private and public sectors face in generating growth. Created with support from businesses and all the Chambers of Commerce across the city region, the manifesto attempts to focus on the strategic issues that companies of all sizes outlined at the 'Conference for Growth' held in February 2012. More than 200 delegates from across all sectors attended the event and contributed to the document outlining key areas which businesses locally believe will provide an economic catalyst to boost growth, job creation and business confidence. The document sets out a number of headline policies businesses want Government, the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Local Authorities and other stakeholders to address. Suzanne Liversidge, president of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, said: Businesses from across the Sheffield City Region have been calling on the Chambers to stand up for the interests of its members and commerce in the region. This manifesto is our response. Business is good for Britain and it is good for Sheffield City Region. It is businesses and entrepreneurs that create the wealth needed to make the world go round. Government cannot run our companies, but it can, and must, create an environment which is, at worst a level playing field, and at best, confers significant advantages whereby our businesses can compete and grow. The manifesto sets out a road map for restoring much needed confidence to the private sector and ensuring that the full economic potential of Sheffield City Region is realised. Through the three main areas of skills, conditions and infrastructure we will seek to kick-start the economy in these core areas, providing the region with long-term sustainable job creation and growth. Sheffield City Region has a business gap of 17,000 when compared with the national average, while the area also has an annual productivity gap of £4.7billion against other areas of the UK. To read the Manifesto for Growth 2012 CLICK HERE.