South Dorset MP, Richard Drax, recently spoke at a business breakfast for members of the construction industry. Over 50 key businesses from the industry attended the event, held at Weymouth Golf Club, which was organised and hosted by leading South West chartered accountants Albert Goodman CBH, Humphries Kirk Solicitors and Yeovil Hire Centre.
Richard Drax gave an overview of the Government’s current economic policies and looked ahead to the future for the business economy in South Dorset, specifically for the construction industry.
“In times of austerity we should be bold to ignite business and enterprise,” Drax commented. “Our aim is to set up the infrastructure for businesses to run successfully and for politicians to stop interfering in business decisions. We have identified 600 regulations to scrap, one of these is entitled the Housing and Construction Red Tape Challenge, which has been introduced to eliminate unnecessary regulations. Through smarter regulation we hope to remove barriers to growth and encourage investment. We know that smaller companies don’t have vast sums of money to spend on lawyers to go through numerous laws and regulations, and we want to help make doing business easier.”
Drax also touched on the inefficiencies of the Eurozone and said that he thought more should be done to co-ordinate apprenticeship schemes so that money from the welfare state can be passed onto employers for taking on unemployed people.
Drax continued, “We are working hard with 38 LEPs to help get building projects off the ground using the £500million Growing Places Fund. We are keen to see disused public land and empty offices released for new homes, the aim of which is to create 100,000 new homes and 200,000 new jobs in the not too distant future.”
This was the first construction industry breakfast organised by Albert Goodman CBH, Humphries Kirk and Yeovil Hire Centre in Weymouth, following the success of already established monthly breakfast events in Taunton and Yeovil. The construction industry breakfasts will rotate monthly between Weymouth, Taunton and Yeovil in the future, returning to Weymouth on a quarterly basis.
Richard Bugler, Partner at Albert Goodman CBH commented, “We host these breakfasts in order to help promote the construction industry in Dorset. The key movers and shakers in the sector are here today with the sole aim of refreshing relationships and helping to generate business.”
The breakfast is open to businesses who work within the construction industry and is by invitation only. If you would like to know more then please contact Sarah Dyer of Albert Goodman at sarah.dyer@albertgoodman.co.uk.