Concerns of Peterborough employers to be heard in 'corridors of power'
A leading voice of business has been in Peterborough to assess the challenges facing the city’s employers.
Shevaun Haviland, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, was the guest of honour at a round table meeting at ARU Peterborough of a range of city companies from engineering and manufacturing to logistics.
She said her aim was to ensure that the concerns of employers across the city were heard in the corridors of power in London.
Her visit is part of the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce’s 100th anniversary celebrations this year.
Ms Haviland, who joined the Chambers of Commerce five years ago after a spell in the government's Cabinet Office, said: “This year the Chamber of Commerce has been in the city for 100 years – it is a huge milestone.
"And I’m here to find out from businesses in Peterborough what their hopes and fears are, the issues and challenges they face and what the opportunities are and how we can work with local businesses here on a national stage to ensure the national government is putting the right policies in place for them.
She said: "Businesses in Peterborough are facing a number of challenges.
"One is around the costs of employment, such as the increase in national insurance, increases in the national living wage and changes in employment rights and which have all been an ongoing challenge.
"The second challenge is skills - many companies are struggling to find the right people with the right skills for the available vacancies.
Ms Haviland added: “For Peterborough business, the year started with fragile confidence.
"Labour costs are still the number one challenge but now we’ve had the conflict in the Middle East which has pushed up energy prices and that is an issue for business.”
But Ms Haviland said one of the city’s strengths was the diversity of its economy with a range of business types from retail through to engineering, manufacturing and logistics.
She said: “It is really important for the city to have a mixed economy for those times when challenges come down the track . It is good to be diversified and to find new ways to grow.”
The Cambridgeshire Chamber painted a gloomy picture of the city economy recently.
Its quarterly economic survey for the first three months of the year revealed that employers in Peterborough are battling a ‘stagnant’ local economy with many struggling to grow sales and others unable to find skilled staff.