Chamber president calls for housing schemes on visit to Shropshire
Stimulating the housing market and supporting start-up finances through a new business bank are key in stimulating the economy, the boss of the British Chambers of Commerce has told Shropshire business bosses.
The BCC's outgoing president Martyn Pellew spent a morning talking to business in Telford about issues affecting the local economy, including attempts to address skills shortages in the area.
Mr Pellew addressed patrons of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce at Telford College of Art and Technology, and used the opportunity to talk about areas that could help reinvigorate the struggling economy, and hailed cuts to corporation tax.
He said: "We would like to see a major switch from revenue to capital expenditure by the government.
"We have been calling on the Government to try to stimulate the construction market by improving the supply of houses rather than just supporting increased demand. There's a key shortage of housing in this country.
"And we are very keen to see this business bank supporting growing businesses."
He added: "There has been a lot of talk about trying to improve manufacturing, but we have to recognise that the economy of the UK is very dependant on services. So far it is the service sector that is showing a recovery more than manufacturing."
Manufacturing, however, was one of the principle points of focus with the launch of the Invest In Telford initiative, aimed at bringing private finance into schemes in Telford, which was launched the day before Mr Pellew's visit.
Nonetheless, he added that he would be keen to see the impact of Telford's initiative, and how it affected the town's economy.
