Coventry committed to business growth

ATTRACTING jobs and growth remains a top priority for Coventry City Council despite the tough economic climate, business leaders have been told.

The local authority delivered the message when it met with the Coventry branch of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce to run through budget proposals for 2012/13.

The council said spending cutbacks were putting the authority under increasing strain, however, it understood that jobs, growth and business investment were crucial to improve the fortunes of the city.

Cllr George Duggins, deputy leader of Coventry City Council, said: “This is the first year that local authorities have felt the full effects of the global crisis when it comes to budgetary cuts.

“Coventry City Council has put itself in a stronger position than many. That is because we saw that tough choices would need to be made and started to make them setting ourselves the goals of protecting front line services as far as possible and regenerating the city.

“It is clearly a challenging time but we know that we still need economic growth to fund the services we provide and take the city forward.”

Dhiran Vagdia, the chamber’s Coventry branch chairman, said businesses understood the council’s predicament because many of them had been forced to take similar spending decisions.

But he said that budget cuts should not stand in the way of putting policies in place to promote growth.

“The chamber and the city council have worked together for many years and now through the Local Enterprise Partnership we are all looking at ways to stimulate growth,” he said.

“While we understand the pressure the council is under, finding new ways to attract investment – particularly in the city centre – has to be a priority.”

The meeting was part of the public consultation on the council’s budget, which ends on January 26.