Business Leaders Reception

Councillor Phil Bateman MBE Mayor of the City of Wolverhampton said "Last night we had a Business Leaders meeting in the Mayor's Parlour. This was made up of a Reception following a presentation made by the Chief Executive of the Black Country Consortium Sarah Middleton, the Leader of the Council Cllr Roger Lawrence, and Councillor Peter Bilson Cabinet Member for Economic Development & Housing Strategy.

This was the 4th such Business Leaders Meeting that had been organised and it was a very enthusiastic and energetic gathering.

The Business Leaders were told that the city was once again going to enter the 'Heart of England In Bloom Awards', following the two silver awards that the city won in this competition in 2005.

It was explained that the city was hoping that this year business will also take part in the Wolverhampton entry. If there is a company out there, that wants to find out more perhaps they would contact Deborah Watton of the Wolverhampton City Company on 01902 551077.-Wolverhampton A Floral City...so look out for the colourful displays during spring and summer.

The presentation covered all the new development sites, the I54 site, the new retail offer in the city centre and much more.

With more than 60 businesses represented it was a magnificent turnout, some of Wolverhampton's biggest and most famous names were present including Marston Aerospace, Carillion,Turner Powertrain, Carvers, Birmingham Midshires, Tesco, Simon Developments Goodrich Actuation Systems,Timken,Caparo and Chubb Safes just to mention a few.

A very interesting debate was sparked by some of the companies that were concerned about the use of the' Black Country' name as a strap line. Some felt that it was a hinderance to Wolverhampton rather than a positive asset.

We thanked the private sector for their forthright views and promised that their comments would not be overlooked. The Leader dealt with the issue very well, and informed the gathering that it was an issue that had been raised before.

At the end of the evening I thanked everyone for making the effort to attend. It was I think a very valuable contribution to Wolverhampton's economic regeneration. Many fine comments were made by the private sector about our Mayoral year and both Mary and I would like to thank those people for their kind statements."