Cash injection to boost Basildon businesses

As the recession bites, and companies feel the pinch across the country, we in Basildon are working hard to do all we can to help out all of our businesses, no matter how large or small. We are pumping £700,000 into Basildon’s business heart over the next year, through Thames Gateway funding.

Half a million pounds will be invested in making major improvements along the A127 Corridor, which employs nearly 40,000 people and is home to major businesses such as Case New Holland, Ford Motor Company, Visteon, Selex Galileo, IFDS and First Data.

The money will be spent on improvements to roadside and estate signage, access to some of the area’s industrial estates, and making Basildon’s big businesses areas more visible from the roadside, thus promoting those businesses, and showcasing how many top companies have made Basildon their home. We have revitalised the Basildon business group and are ensuring that we build relationships with the business community, something that had been a problem previously.

These new relationships enable us to speak frankly and openly with the business representatives, find out what their issues are, and act accordingly. This direct investment over the next year will address many of the key concerns that companies have expressed to us in the past. We still have a long way to go, but we are getting there. We are also looking to the future, and a development framework for the area is being prepared and will help us to ensure that we are ready to capitalise on growing businesses once the market improves, and the London Gateway port becomes reality.

The A127 framework will set the Council and Basildon Renaissance’s aspirations and vision for the area, and identify how the land and area could develop in the future. This will be produced in consultation with the local businesses and the Basildon Business Group. It will also ensure that a coordinated approach is taken to any business expansion or inward investment. Consultation with the businesses will be taking place over the coming months, with the aim to begin the physical improvements by the Autumn.

This major investment will help us to remain the second most important economy in the Thames Gateway outside of Canary Wharf.We are also working with our business support partners such as Business Link East to deliver a programme of business clinics through February and March. These are being held throughout Basildon’s business zones and will offer free and confidential business health checks to local companies, as well as financial advice to those in need.

Little steps, but important that the public sector does all it can to help out the business community through these times, be it through joining up its advice and partnerships to help out small to medium enterprises, or through investing public money in quick wins, in consultation with the local business world.