Small business advisor Julia Chanterey gives advice to small companies in Brighton, Hove and Sussex

Jeremy Taylor is Chief Executive of Cadia, the Gatwick Diamond Business Association. Jeremy is an active voice in the Sussex business community and leads the fight to put the economy at the forefront of thinking. For more on Cadia, visit www.cadia.org.uk.

Gatwick airport is Sold

A new owner for Gatwick will bring real business benefits to the Gatwick Diamond. But it also opens the door for more argument & debate. I think I know what business thinks.

Local Taxation ... Local spending

As you will know, we have been pressing for local taxes to be spent locally as it is ridiculous to see so much of our Business Rates spent elsewhere in the country. About £300m is collected from businesses in the Gatwick Diamond with around 9% (£27m) returned to this area. As far as I can tell, the rest is used to prop up the poorly performing regions in the rest of the country. At a recent meeting with Jonathan Shaw, Minister for the South East, we urged him to look at spending money on the South East’s infrastructure as a priority, before it becomes a necessity. I don’t hold out much hope.

“Cor! What a Product!” Or rather “What’s your core product?”

One of the key problems that the current downturn has created is that, in the good years, many of us were looking for new and interesting ways to make money. With healthy order books and a strong feeling of optimism, there was a feeling that any business could do anything, whether it related to the original business or not.

Where has the money gone?

Over the past few years I have been to a number of meetings with representatives of the Bank of England and members of the Monetary Policy Committee. I have also been invited to attend other events where the Bank have spoken on the current economic situation.