Business leaders look to maximise opportunities in property and logistics at forum event

The Staffordshire’s Economic Forum’s event at Keele University on 4 September will see panellists discuss potential of major schemes such as the West Midlands Interchange, i54 South Staffordshire and the Central Edge, the role of public-private partnerships in creating and delivering sites.

Invest Staffordshire – Staffordshire County Council’s inward investment service – is hosting the event jointly with InsiderMedia and is inviting people to register now.

Business property development is one of the three main focuses of the event, which will follow the first occupier being announced at the West Midlands Interchange (WMI), completion of plots at Chatterley Valley West and a near full-occupied i54 South Staffordshire. Work on a £4million Carlsberg Britvic depot at the WMI site at Four Ashes in South Staffordshire began this month. The new depot will feature state-of-the-art facilities and support the company’s growing logistics needs.

The other focus sectors at the forum will be advanced manufacturing and Staffordshire’s visitor economy, currently worth £2.7bn.

Martin Murray, Staffordshire County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for economy and skills, will open the event before the panel discussion by business and education leaders.

Staffordshire is one of the UK’s fastest growing economies thanks to big regeneration projects, excellent connectivity, global brands and thriving small and medium-sized businesses. The forum will explore how the area promotes itself globally and how it can drive growth through its world-class businesses, such as Bet365, JCB, and Michelin.

People can register to attend the event at the Denise Coates Building now at the event webpage.

Martin Murray said:

“We have huge potential in Staffordshire to rapidly increase major business investment across our key sectors – building on our strong foundations and reputation.

This is the beating heart on the country with excellent connectivity, global brand leaders to be proud of and with thriving SMEs which create and sustain thousands of jobs.

We have some of the UK’s top visitor attractions and continue to attract significant development as the West Midlands Interchange testifies. And we look forward to major improvements on road and rail, including the M6/M54 link and A50. However, we will not rest on our laurels and this event will allow us to look at how we can work collaboratively to maximise future opportunities for Staffordshire.”

A full list of panellists is on the event website with more to be announced in coming weeks.

Invest Staffordshire supports a county-wide coordinated approach to attract investment and drive economic growth. It works with the public and private sector to strengthen partnerships and bring forward strategic developments and programmes which will retain and crucially create skilled jobs for local people.

To find out more about Invest Staffordshire people should visit www.investstaffordshire.com or follow latest news on its LinkedIn page.