Our Future is Your Business

Leicester Shire Day 2007 was a big success as 200 delegates, mostly from the private sector, began to shape the new Economic Strategy for Leicester and Leicestershire. The event, held at the Marriott Leicester, was the first to help create a long-term vision for a flourishing sub-region.

The newly appointed chairman of Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, Rick Moore of Moore and York, made his first public appearance in his new role and outlined his ambition to bridge the mutual lack of understanding between the public and private sectors.

Five leading figures from local companies outlined issues that prevent growth for Leicester Shire businesses:

• Chris Hall, chief executive, Hallmark Consumer Services, shared his experiences of trying to recruit staff with the right skills and attitude for his logistics company.
• Mary Irving, chief executive, Tangible Results, provided an insight into what factors she had to take into account when considering expanding her SME.
• Richard Brucciani, executive chairman, PAL International, spoke about how frustrating he found trying to locate new business premises in south Leicestershire.
• Mick McLoughlin, regional director, BT, shared his vision for the first fully wireless county and what that would mean for businesses.
• Steve King, partner, PKF, examined issues relating to image and identity and questioned the branding of Leicester Shire and how well this is articulated.

Delegates attended workshops on these key themes and were encouraged to look ahead. Amongst the ideas to arise was the need to:

• change the way apprentices are employed/trained
• reduce the gap between high and low skilled employees
• co-ordinate provision of services to eliminate the ‘fear’ factor
• view the city and county as one for employment land purposes
• identify factors that will help create a successful, integrated identity for Leicester Shire.

The chairman of Leicester Shire Day, Philip Hammersley, concluded that in his experience representatives of the public and private sectors had a great deal to learn from each other and recognised that the event had identified this as a way forward in creating the vision for improving the sub-regional economy.

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