State of The Nation Report

Last night Midnight attended The Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce (BHCC), State of The Nation debate at The Sallis Benney Theatre.

The event was busy and welcomed the elite of the Brighton and Hove business scene.  The format allowed 30 minutes for networking before the debate, so Ben and I quickly set to spreading the merits of winning a BAHBA!

Roger French, OBE and MD of Brighton and Hove Bus Company, chaired the debate fielding audience questions to a panel of key city decision-makers, including Tony Mernagh, Chief Executive of Brighton and Hove Business Forum, Adam Bain, Working Links and Julie Stanford, president of BHCC.  Adam Bates, stepped in to replace leader of the B&H Council, Cllr Mary Mears who sent her regrets.

Tony Mernagh kicked off the event with a snapshot presentation illustrating the current economic climate of Brighton, the South East and the whole of the UK.  Brighton excels in certain areas but lags in others. The working population is getting younger and better qualified which is good, but there is a high percent of graduates that are working low qualified positions in Brighton, which takes jobs away from people without qualifications and hence has a knock on effect to increase the number of people on job seekers allowance. 

The presentation also touched on the need for increased office space in the city and praised the efforts of local developers including Brunswick Developments and the City Point consortium. 

Other topics put to the panel included improving the public realm of the city (Pam Jarvis, SAM) and the importance of allowing a safe and controlled environment for graffiti.  A contentious subject was the recently opened Starbucks on St. James Street in Kemp Town, which opened without planning permission and why was this allowed.  Tony Mernagh was in the hot seat for this one but coolly answered that the franchise had the right to open during its appeal process. Employer legislation was also discussed and the amount of bureaucratic red tape annoyed many of the business owners in the audience.

All in all it was a good event, informative and provided a great platform to promote The BAHBAs.  A number of business cards were swapped in exchange for a BAHBA leaflet!

Caroline Puttock, Midnight Communications