February 2011 - 22nd Edition
Introduction by Cllr George Beckett, Winchester City Council’s Leader and Portfolio Holder for the Local Economy and Tourism Welcome to the 22nd edition of the Winchester Entrepreneur, the newsletter for local businesses. This edition includes: Update on the Winchester District Local Plan Southampton Airport welcomes new airline with direct flights to Barcelona Faster broadband gets the green light in Hampshire Rural community broadband fund information event Business South 2012 Hampshire County Council’s promotional films Meet the Buyers event set to boost local economy Winchester Business Excellence Awards 2012 Thumbs up for rural planning workshop Do let us know if there are any stories you would like us to cover so that we can make this newsletter useful to you, our local business community. Best wishes, Cllr George Beckett	Useful Links Rural LEADER Funding Wired Wessex Winchester BID Solent Enterprise Partnership Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership
Winchester District Local Plan Part 1 - Joint Core Strategy The City Council has prepared the pre-submission version of its Local Plan Part 1 – Joint Core Strategy in conjunction with the South Downs National Park Authority. The consultation on the pre-submission joint core Strategy runs until 5pm on the 12 March 2012. The pre-submission plan, together with supporting documents and guidance notes, are available to view, download and comment on at www.winchester.gov.uk/jointcorestrategy  If you have any queries regarding the proposed plan or the consultation, please email the Strategic Planning Team on ldf@winchester.gov.uk or telephone Winchester City Council’s Customer Service Centre on 01962 840 222. Southampton Airport welcomes new airline with direct flights to Barcelona  Southampton Airport has this month announced that Spanish low-cost airline, Vueling, will operate three flights a week to Barcelona from June 2012. The flights, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, are largely in response to a demand from the local business community, but are also likely be enjoyed by people wanting a short break in this fascinating city. The flights will cost from around £58.55 one way and can be booked via www.vueling.com Vueling will operate an Airbus A319 from Southampton Airport. The new Southampton-Barcelona route will be welcomed by business travellers for whom Vueling has created unique features. Its recently launched Duo Seat guarantees a front row double seat and hand luggage space, preferred boarding and online check in at selected airports, free drink and snack. In addition, Vueling’s Goproduct offers greater flexibility to passengers enabling them to change flights for free up to two hours before departure, provides gratis seat selection and the opportunity to board the flight when desired. Faster Broadband gets the green light in Hampshire Hampshire is to get £5 million of government funding to bring faster broadband to residents and businesses.  The Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funding, announced by Ed Vaizey, is part of government plans to ensure that everyone in the country will have access to broadband.  The dedicated broadband pages on Hantsweb (the County Council's website) have more information about Hampshire's funding allocation and their campaign, Faster broadband – getting Hampshire connected. The overall programme will last for three years and Hampshire County Council’s immediate next steps are to secure a commercial partner to support and develop detailed implementation plans. Businesses in the Winchester District can continue to register their interest via Hampshire County Council's website Rural Community Broadband Fund Information Event Community Action Hampshire Rural Community Broadband Fund Information Event will take place at Hampshire County Council in Winchester on Friday 17 February from 2pm to 4.30 pm. The event is to tell communities in rural and hard to reach areas of Hampshire about £20 million of government funding that is available to help bring faster broadband to these areas. Representatives from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Broadband Delivery UK will be attending to clarify funding eligibility and to how to apply. Members of Hampshire County Council’s Broadband project team will also be on hand to explain about the £5 million government funding that they are to receive and the areas this funding is aimed to help. If you wish to attend the Rural Community Broadband Fund Information Event, please register here:  http://www3.hants.gov.uk/rcbf-event Business South 2012 The Business South Event will take place this year on 22 and 23 February at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. This is your opportunity to meet with, and do business with, decision-makers at the region's premier B2B event. Nigel Botterill will be delivering his keynote address on 22 February. In the last 5 years Nigel as built five separate million pound plus businesses from scratch.  There will also be social media master classes and over 100 exhibitors. Click here to pre-register: http://events.jobserveevents.com/VisitorReg.aspx?exID=151 Hampshire County Council Promotional Films Hampshire County Council has recently finished a series of promotional films for the county. They can be viewed on the HCC YouTube channel via the links below: Invest in Hampshire Visit Hampshire Film Hampshire Meet the Buyers event set to boost local economy The sixth South Hampshire Meet the Buyers event is to be held on Thursday 29 March 2012 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.   Meet the Buyers enables major buying organisations within South Hampshire to meet local suppliers face-to-face and is designed to build local supply chains.  The previous Meet the Buyer event saw over 110 suppliers and 23 buyers take part, with an estimated £2.3million of business as a result. Each year, almost all suppliers who have attended have expected to do business with companies they met at Meet the Buyers. This year a programme of events will help prepare people for a day of selling. The first is the “How to Sell Yourself” seminar, which will be held on March 20 at Eastleigh Borough Council offices. This event will enable suppliers to pick up tips on how to best sell their products and services to major buyers. The guest speaker for this event will be Denise Barlow, Head of Communications and Marketing at Hampshire Chamber of Commerce. Having run her own sales training company for over 20 years, Denise has a wealth of experience in the field of Sales and Marketing.  There will also be two public sector procurement training workshops entitled “How to Win Public Sector Procurement Opportunities”. These will be held on Tuesday February 28 in Committee Room 1 at Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, SO43 7PA. The second will be held on Wednesday 7 March at Wessex House in Eastleigh. Both events will start at 1pm and end at 5pm.  If you are interested in attending as either a buyer or supplier please contact Hampshire Chamber of Commerce on 0844 4990446, or  email janet.maxwell@hampshirechamber.co.uk Winchester Business Excellence Awards 2012 The awards promote local business, foster competitiveness and reward excellence. Companies within the Winchester district have the opportunity to demonstrate why they should be judged number one across a range of categories including ‘Eco Business of the Year, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and the prestigious ‘Dutton Gregory Solicitors Business of the Year Award’. This year the organisers were pleased to announce two new categories: Small business of the Year and Employee of the Year. Mark Board, Partner at Dutton Gregory, commented, "This is an opportunity for businesses to showcase their successes and nominate each other at a time when the economy may have been against them. For our part we are pleased to continue to support our clients and other local businesses wherever we can.” The competition culminates in a glamorous ‘black tie’ evening reception which is scheduled for 15 June 2012. For more information about the awards or if you would like to enter please visit www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/wbea   Thumbs up for Rural Planning Workshop A workshop organised by Winchester City Council for rural businesses and landowners who are thinking about applying for planning permission were met with a warm reception from delegates last month. The key note speaker, George Hollingbery, the Member of Parliament for Meon Valley, told the audience what is happening at a national level to cut red tape and help local businesses prosper. The Leader of Winchester City Council, Cllr George Beckett, explained how the Council works to support the local economy. Delegates then heard how the Council is improving its planning policies and processes to make them more 'business friendly' in general, and in particular more sympathetic to the needs and pressures of rural businesses. During the event, planners used case studies to explain what is involved in making a planning application and how proposals are assessed. They stressed that, whilst every effort would be made to foster business growth and enterprise, this could not be at the expense of the special qualities of our market towns and rural areas. Simon Finch, Head of Planning Management at Winchester City Council, said, "This workshop is one of a number of improvements the Council has introduced to help rural businesses with the planning process. The council is also training two existing senior planners to act as Rural Business Advisors. In addition, a new easy to follow guide, Planning Guidance for Rural Businesses, was launched at the event and explains how the process works." A copy of the guide can be downloaded at: www.winchester.gov.uk/Business/RuralPlanningSeminar/
Tel: 01962 840 222 Fax: 01962 841 365 Text: 07797 877 004 www.winchester.gov.uk
All rights reserved. All content 2011 Winchester Council. Want to unsubscribe or change your details?