06/04/04 - Cash help for County's business voice

Cumbria County Council's Cabinet today agreed to give the recently-formed Cumbria Chamber of Commerce a £15,000 grant to help establish it as the voice of business for the county. A condition of the funding is that the chamber agrees with the county council a plan of how to spend the money.

Councillor Lawson Short, Cabinet member with responsibility for economic regeneration, said:

"Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is emerging as a county-wide organisation to represent the interests of business in Cumbria and beyond, and is a partner in a number of organisations working for the benefit of the whole county.  Its present income from membership growth and provision of services is limited and the chamber needs extra funds now to meet the demands made on it and to develop its services.   The County Council believes that this grant will pay dividends in supporting an organisation working towards economic regeneration and diversification in the county, which is one of the key aims of the County Council."

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce says it is the sole or major link between business and the public sector in Cumbria. It is a member of a number of county-wide bodies, including Cumbria Strategic Partnership, Connexions and Cumbria Business Education Consortium. It also has representation on regional bodies such as the North West Rural Affairs Forum. It has offices in Carlisle, Kendal, Barrow and Whitehaven  and its affinity groups are developing as the "business voice" for their sector or location.

The funding will come from the £45,000 set aside to support small businesses.