• developments at Winchester City Council
• an opportunity for your business to take part in a Multicultural Lunch and Festival of Volunteering
• Winchester Cathedral’s brand new website
• information on supplier events
• an update on rural broadband and village shops

Kate Cloud, Head of Economy and Arts, is now on maternity leave. Alison Woods from the Commissioning team has taken over Kate’s role until her return. Alison can be contacted on 01962 848 563 or email awoods@winchester.gov.uk

It's official - the commissioning era has begun! 

Winchester City Council’s Cabinet has officially approved the council’s new ‘commissioning approach’. The commissioning team will now be looking for opportunities to work with small and medium sized businesses in the area. To find out more about commissioning read our Commissioning Questions and Answers document. 
Thank you to all the businesses that contributed to developing the commissioning process at the workshop held in February.

Gold again for Winchester Tourist Information Centre!

Winchester City Council are celebrating after winning the gold award in the National Tourist Information Service of the Year category at the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence. The trophy returns to Winchester after the team won the same national award in 2006.

A push for the Local Carbon Economy

A group of Winchester City Council members have been looking at ways to help build a low carbon economy for the Winchester District. They have come up with the following recommendations;

• to explore the potential for a Community Bank, including identification of potential co-investors, to support low carbon investment
• a formal commitment to the Hampshire Broadband project
• to ensure that emerging planning policy actively encourages low carbon business development
• an action plan to increase business commitment to low carbon practices, including a workable approach to disseminating the latest data and best practice guidance
• to identify and investigate with partners the skills required to support the low carbon economy.

If you’d like your business to be involved, email Eloise Appleby: eappleby@winchester.gov.uk

Watch this space for our new Winchester Green Business Scheme

We have been working with Winchester Action on Climate Change to develop a brand new Winchester Green Business Scheme. There are separate categories for attractions, events, retail, small and medium sized businesses, voluntary and public sector as well as places to eat and accommodation. The scheme will be based on a self assessment questionnaire and businesses will be able to gain the ‘green’ or ‘gold’ accreditation depending on their green credentials.

To find out more contact Alison Woods, Acting Head of Economy and Arts on 01962 848 563 or email awoods@winchester.gov.uk


A record number of businesses enter the Green Innovation category in the Winchester Business Excellence Awards 

This category is sponsored by Winchester City Council and has impressed Rob Heathcock, the Council’s Assistant Director for High Quality Environment, he said, "The finalists have really impressed the judges with their creativity. Their actions are helping to reduce their own and their customers’ carbon footprints”. 

The short listed businesses are:

• Two Hoots Campsite
• Kirton Farm Nurseries
• Eco Car Care
• Norton Park Hotel

A unique opportunity for Winchester Businesses

Winchester Area Community Action and CultureNet are offering up-to four Winchester businesses the unique opportunity to be a participant at the very first Festival of Volunteering in Winchester.  This is a chance for your business to showcase the impact of your corporate responsibility activities, to develop opportunities to partner with voluntary and community organisations and to publicise your company. There are four special packages – combining a stand and/or programme advertising and PR opportunities.

The event will take place in front of Winchester Cathedral, on Sunday 5 June from 12pm to 4pm during National Volunteers Week.

The Festival of Volunteering will be held alongside the celebrations for the national ‘Big Lunch’, called locally ‘One Big Table’ which is a multicultural event which includes food, live music and dance. 

Last year over 900 people attended ‘One Big Table’ and this year we are expecting around 2,000. The event is being opened by Steve Brine MP and is supported by the Mayor of Winchester, CultureNet, Winchester Area Community Action, Winchester Business Improvement District, Winchester City Council, Winchester College, Winchester University and Winchester Volunteer Centre.

5,000 A5 brochures will be printed and distributed around Winchester, these will contain the programme for the day and also details on each of the participating organisations including logo, brief description and contact details. There will also be PR and other marketing initiatives.

We have space for just four commercial organisations to take advantage of this opportunity to have a stand to promote CSR involvement, and to develop community links and partnerships.  So act quickly if you don’t want to miss out!

For more information about the different sponsorship packages available contact Paul Williams, Chief Executive of Winchester Area Community Action, at pwilliams@waca.org.uk or call 01962 848 010.
 
Check out Winchester Cathedral’s new website

Winchester Cathedral’s new website contains many new features including on line galleries and a new film.

Meet the Buyers event is a success

The fifth annual Meet the Buyers event held on 23 March at the Rose Bowl, saw more than 120 suppliers pitching to 22 potentially large customers. It is hoped the relationships made will result in millions of pounds of business over the coming months.

Doing Business with Hampshire

Hampshire County Council is hosting a supplier procurement event specifically aimed at our local small businesses and voluntary and community organizations. The event will take place on Wednesday 18 May from 10am to 12pm (9.30am for registration and coffee) at Ashburton Hall, The Castle, Winchester.
To see more details and register for the event please click here.

Holler for hot-spots, not not-spots! Join our campaign for faster broadband in the Winchester District

We are working with Hampshire County Council to bring about major improvements to the provision of broadband across the rural areas of Hampshire and have recently supported the county’s bid to the Government’s BDUK programme. 

Winchester City Council and the eHampshire Partnership are seeking your views on access to broadband internet. A short survey is available for all Winchester District residents and businesses, to identify demand for better broadband.

The survey asks about your current broadband speed, your broadband needs, and how much you would pay for better broadband. The evidence that is gathered will be used to lobby those that provide internet infrastructure, to give the Winchester District a better service.

You can complete the survey at:
http://www.ehampshire.org/winchester/c-339.  You can email more general comments to Alison Woods at awoods@winchester.gov.uk.

Winchester City Council grants a helping hand to Sparsholt village shop

A number of village shops have benefited from grants from the council. Sparsholt Village Shop and Post Office for instance received £7,000 to help fund its vital community facility. The grants were introduced in 2009 in response to the economic downturn. 

The small, beautifully laid out, shop selling an excellent range of local produce as well as the usual essential grocery items now boasts a new fridge and shop fittings.