Hampshire Now - your County Council magazine

Supporting local businesses

With the recession making times hard for everyone, it is often small, local businesses that suffer most. Finding help can be a daunting prospect, but Hampshire County Council has a specialist team who can offer advice and information to the county’s businesses. Frances Stokes, Business Development Manager, answers some common questions.

Village shops

What help is available to businesses struggling in the recession?

We’re helping businesses stay one step ahead in the recession, with online advice on how to survive the economic downturn. Companies can find a range of information on how to ease the pressure of the recession and how they can protect their businesses and jobs with steps such as: managing company finances; improving customer service; training staff in order to get the best out of them; and, should the worst happen, how to handle staff redundancies.

Tell us about your schemes designed to help struggling businesses.

Not only do we work in partnership with a number of business support agencies, such as Business Link, the local Chambers of Commerce, Enterprise First and the Federation of Small Businesses, but we also run a number of key business support projects, such as:

  • the Sustainable Business Partnership (SBP) which can help businesses manage their resources better and act more sustainably. There is a new fund aimed at helping local businesses reduce energy costs. It offers £500 per business for energy-saving improvements. Further information can be found on the SBP website.

What about rural communities?

A number of different schemes are available to rural communities, including our popular Village Community Grant Scheme. This offers up to £20,000 in funding to rural businesses to help increase the use of village shops and/or to create new community-led village stores, particularly in communities that have lost their Post Offices.

The scheme was launched in April 2008 and in the first year supported 12 initiatives – giving a total of £171,878, matched by private and public sector investment of £236,754.

Other schemes designed to help rural areas, and information on all our other schemes, can be found at www.hants.gov.uk/grants.

Who can I speak to if I’m worried about my business?

You can speak to a member of the Economic Development team on 01962 846381 or visit www.hants.gov.uk/business-advice.