Business News

With one in ten Brits reportedly leaving their Christmas shopping until the big day itself, it’s not surprising that the most unlikely places for filling up on festive stocking treats can suddenly transform itself into a haven of holiday help. Perhaps synonymous with a hundred thousand angry housewives clutching a bunch of bad floral arrangements to their heart, the fuel station may be the last resort for a Sachertorte on Christmas Day, but it is still one of the only retail outlets open in the 24 hour festive shut down where goods can go straight from check out to under-the-tree in a matter of moments. 

The Black Country Chamber of Commerce says that the delay over whether to build a new runway at Heathrow will strengthen the case for making better use of Britain’s regional airports. In response to the announcement that the solution to aviation congestion in the South East will be delayed six months, Colin Leighfield, Chair of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce’s Transport Group said: “The Government should use this time to explore how HS2 can be used to support a regional airport strategy as an alternative to expansion in Heathrow. There is more to aviation strategy than environmental concerns.”

Last week Birmingham was formally announced as a City of Sanctuary, in recognition of the efforts to offer shelter and safety to those in need. During an event at the Council House on Friday (December 4) to mark the announcement, the following speech was made by Cllr Shafique Shah. Cabinet Member for Inclusion and Community Safety:

2nd Annual Arabtech event shows real potential of UK cooperation to promote prosperity in the Middle East As negativity dominates the news, the UK-Israel Tech Hub at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv run the 2nd Annual Arabtech Conference in London bringing 10 of the most promising Israeli-Arab start ups to the Silycon Roundabout. The UK-Israel Tech Hub was launched in 2011 to create partnerships in which British companies gain a global competitive edge via Israeli innovation and Israeli innovation can go global via the UK.

Local housing group, Wolverhampton Homes, has become a Founder Patron of ‘The Way’ with less than 50 days to go until the £6m facility open’s on January 16th 2016.  The Way will transform the lives of young people by giving them ‘somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to.’ Wolverhampton Homes manage and look after more than 23,000 homes on behalf of Wolverhampton City Council.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) West Midlands, with national law firm DWF, and information security consultancy firm, Aristi, is hosting a free seminar in Birmingham on December 10, which aims to arm small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and medium-sized businesses (MSBs) with the latest information to protect their data and assets. Christine Hamilton, acting regional director of UKTI West Midlands, said it was vital that businesses were prepared for a potential cyber attack.

Edesix, a UK-based market leader in body worn camera (BWC) solutions, has secured further investment from Panoramic Growth Equity, who have been backing the company since 2014.  Edesix has raised a further £750,000 to fund expansion into new markets and to continue the development of its technology, product range and sales infrastructure both in the UK and overseas.

Nuneaton Kasli Pharmacy has won the Best Pharmacy Activity campaign in the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) No Smoking Day Organiser of the Year competition. The Kasli Pharmacy activities on No Smoking Day included fantastic on site promotion and recruitment for their dedicated stop smoking course. The course includes ‘stop smoking champions’ who follow patients through 12 weeks, seeing them weekly and providing advice and support.

Once again the phenomenon of Black Friday has hit British high streets in the run up to Christmas and Opinium Research analysed the nation’s behaviour in response to several days of deals and discounts with some surprising results. Despite the hype, the majority (69%) of Brits avoided Black Friday. Of those who did take advantage of the sales (29% overall) most avoided the madness of the stores and stuck to online shopping (81% versus 35% who shopped in store).

Dream jobs come wrapped up in all sorts of packages, but none could come close to being as magical as the one holidaycottages.co.uk’s has recently appointed. The leading property letting specialist has announced Hayley Kitto as their 2015 “head of Christmas wishes”. Chosen from a huge number of applicants, Hayley’s unfaltering festive nature and commitment to Christmas, as well as customer service, is what landed her this dream seasonal job.

A report seeking approval to build 166 affordable homes for rent and sale in Perry Common is to go to cabinet. This is the final phase of an area regeneration that has seen the replacement of 908 structurally defective homes with 913 new homes (including a 40 place Extra Care centre), a health centre, and a 60-bed special care centre. The regeneration has also seen the creation and improvement of over 27 acres of public open space and improvement of other community facilities.

Black Country Chamber of Commerce is delighted to reveal that they have been announced as runner-up for the Chamber of the Year Award in the British Chambers of Commerce Awards 2015. This comes a year after the Black Country Chamber of Commerce was awarded the Excellence in International Trade Award at the British Chambers of Commerce Awards 2014. The Awards took place at the Brewery London on 26^th November with over 500 people in attendance.

Nursery child care in Birmingham is set to get a £1.5 million funding boost from the city council to ensure there is enough good quality provision across the city. Cabinet is being asked to approve the increase to the Early Education Entitlement (EEE) funding rate for youngsters aged two, three and four at private, voluntary and independent (PVI) child care settings.

On the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, taking place in Paris next week, the members of the Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC) reiterate the industry’s commitment to contribute to fight climate change, and express their hopes for successful talks.

The results are in for the Safer 6 campaign's fourth week, which had a special focus on Oldbury. Firefighters with council neighbourhood services officers carried out 109 home safety checks in Oldbury during the week as well as general safety visits across the town’s four wards – Bristnall, Langley, Old Warley and Oldbury. Oldbury Fire Station hosted a vehicle safety event, where firefighters checked 57 cars, highlighting and dealing with common faults including defective tyres and lights, wrongly fitting child seats, cracked windscreens and low fluid levels.

Today, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has made a historic move as the first trade union to re-affiliate to the Labour Party more than a decade after it withdrew its support. Union delegates voted for the FBU to support the Labour Party, reinvigorated after the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader, at a special conference in Blackpool. The FBU was one of the first trade unions to declare support for Corbyn’s leadership campaign.