Blog

Keep up-to-date with the latest business news, marketing best practices, success stories and more with content produced by the Business West team and regional business leaders.

West poised to prosper from government's hydrogen strategy

Yesterday (17 August) was the eagerly awaited launch of the government’s hydrogen strategy . It sets out the approach to developing a low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK to meet the government’s...
Nina Skubala
Nina Skubala
Business West
Posted on: 18.08.21
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Mike Godfrey on the history and closure of Honda in Swindon

As Swindon's Honda plant closed its doors for the very last time, I spoke with Mike Godfrey OBE - non-executive director at Business West and one of Honda's first employees in the UK - for his...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 17.08.21
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An interview with Dr Diane Savory OBE

Leaving school at 16 after being told “I wasn’t capable of doing A-Levels,” Dr Diane Savory OBE has become something of a business icon in Gloucestershire. She has just left the chair of the county’s...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 11.08.21
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How do we breathe new life into our shopping centres?

Well, some 20 years ago, Stroud benefitted from the LOTS Scheme (Living above the shop), which at the time was spearheaded by Stroud District Council and housing associations. This innovative scheme...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 11.08.21
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Ruth Dooley to chair GFirst LEP

As a board member of GFirst LEP I was impressed by some words in the interview presentation made for the new chair’s role by accountant Ruth Dooley. Those words were: “I think sometimes people’s egos...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 04.08.21
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Levelling up means upskilling our workforce in STEM

A recent note from Stroud’s MP Siobhan Baillie reminds me just how important the study of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects are to the future job prospects of our young...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 28.07.21
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Business West one of eight Chambers of Commerce to pilot Local Skills Improvement Plan

Business West has been named as one of eight Chambers of Commerce across England that will lead on a new Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for its region. Working in tandem with key education...
Posted on: 22.07.21
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Local government review will be a boost for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire business, in my view, will welcome Boris Johnson’s idea of creating more directly elected Mayors. In Gloucestershire, particularly, where we have six district councils with the need...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 21.07.21
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Could stronger local government hold the key to levelling up down South?

Two years after he entered Downing Street and introduced his much-heralded levelling up plan for the country, Boris Johnson today gave us a half term report on how it was going. What we got, in my...
Ian Mean
Ian Mean
Business West
Posted on: 15.07.21
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