Around 300 businesses from sole traders and small businesses to large international companies were represented at the successful breakfast event held at the Princes Hall in Aldershot.
The conference was organised to give businesses in the Enterprise M3 LEP area an opportunity to provide insight and direction for the new partnership.
The representatives were asked what they thought were the most powerful ways to stimulate economic growth and the most serious barriers, before focusing on specific issues such as transport, skills and finance.
The conference also established the next steps for the partnership, including plans to set up the Enterprise M3 board in the early summer.
The event’s key note speaker was Philip Rutnam, the Director General for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, and there was positive news for the area, with 70 per cent of those attending the event believing their business will grow over the next two to three years.
Interim Chair of Enterprise M3 Geoff French said: “It was great to see so many people at our launch conference. Those in attendance provided excellent feedback on the issues that are most important to them and many volunteered to help us address their priorities. The next urgent task for Enterprise M3 is to establish action groups to work on these issues.”
The breakfast conference is the first event held by Enterprise M3 since the Government approved it as a Local Enterprise Partnership in February. This new-style partnership will work across an area covering parts of Hampshire and Surrey, bringing together major companies, other businesses and business representatives with the local councils, universities, colleges and other public services making decisions that affect the area’s economy.
The partnership covers the areas of Rushmoor, Hart, Surrey Heath and Waverley as well as Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, New Forest, Test Valley and Winchester in Hampshire and Guildford and Woking in Surrey, working across traditional boundaries to make a real difference to the people who live and work in the area.
The partnership will now bring together the feedback and expressions of interest from the conference with the aim of setting up implementation and action groups in the summer to work on its priorities.
Businesses wanting more information about the LEP or to get involved can visit www.enterprisem3.org.uk or contact Natalie Wigman, Business Relationships Manager at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on 01256 845692 or email Natalie.wigman@basingstoke.gov.uk