Mark Jackson, partner at Peterborough accountants and business advisers Azets, highlights the key findings of the Greater Peterborough Business Survey.
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00:00The 11th year of the business survey and those predicting a stronger performance this last year
00:08was actually at the lowest it's been for quite some time. Although those predicting that next
00:14year will be a lot better have shot up to nearly 60% of businesses saying next year will be better
00:22and therefore hopefully if that comes true we will see a return to more than half of businesses in
00:28Peterborough improving their performance. A lot were saying they'll be investing more
00:34in capital projects this next year but many obstacles remain but various things are in place
00:43to try to overcome those obstacles and therefore hopefully the ambition that we see in many
00:48businesses will rise in this coming year come to fruition. What do businesses say are the key
00:55challenges? Key challenges remain people and skills and the marketplace for people and skills
01:02really it's around finding the right people to support that business growth and challenges around
01:07recruitment and challenges around retention and working practices have probably eased a little
01:14bit in the year but still finding the right people in the first place is the number one. Okay and
01:20you mentioned political uncertainty during the piece as well anything you're looking for or
01:25businesses might be looking for from the new look city council? Yeah always an interesting one and
01:30I think one of the things is just around certainty in any run-up to elections people are nervous
01:37about what may or may not come out of that but I think one of the big things that comes out
01:42from all sorts of discussions as well as the survey is just that kind of speed of response
01:46and that long-term direction is much needed again to give that long-term certainty.