Hampshire Economic Partnership (HEP) was pleased to work closely with the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire, Business Southampton and Portsmouth City Growth in the organisation of the inaugural meeting of the South Hampshire Business Group.

Marwell Hotel, in the peaceful surroundings of the Zoological Park, was the venue for the first meeting chaired by Caroline Williams, Chairman of HEP.

Caroline welcomed around 30 business leaders, from a range of sectors and sizes of business across south Hampshire, including the Universities and the Naval Base. They met to discuss how to best influence and assist with the delivery of the economic development strategy of the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH), which comprises all the 11 local authorities in the area. The aim is to improve the prosperity and sustainability of the area by working on a number of cross cutting issues identified by businesses and local authorities.

Stuart Jarvis, Managing Director of PUSH and Dawn Baxendale, Economic Development Manager, were pleased to have this important opportunity to collaborate with local businesses.

Caroline Williams said "The combination of the PUSH Authorities and HEP to develop a coherent economic strategy is an exciting development, and by linking this with the clarity of the business sector’s knowledge and experience of the barriers and opportunities to growth will allow our area to start to deliver its full potential "

ENDS