North Kent Is Changing | What it Means for Local Business

Hello, and welcome into the South East Business Show radio studio. So we are in a brand new studio today, aren't we? And let me welcome my cohost, Adelle Martin, who is the Executive Resilience Coach. And our special guest in the studio today is Sean Henry, Economic Development Manager for Medway Council. So welcome, Sean.

Hello. Sean is a reg he's a regular visitor. So welcome back. Thank you so much. And thank you for everything that you do for businesses, not just in Medway, but actually around everywhere really, isn't it?

Think you've to help.

You've you've you've bring us all together. And I think that's especially important. So if we start off with how could we not do the South East Business Show right now without, you know, and and not mention the North Kent merger and potentially what that means for businesses. It's a little sometimes it's a little way off, isn't it? Probably it's not a little way off for you.

But I think with everything that goes on sort of day to day around business, I think it's probably it's a little bit in in the future. Would would you agree with that? But it's it's it's People are talking about it. Yeah. But people are talking about it, it's heading towards us, and I have a feeling it's going to arrive with this a lot sooner than than we actually think it is.

So I realise that it the decision has just been announced, hasn't it? So we're not talking sort of too too long ago. And so I'm sort of assuming that there's not an awful lot that we can say definitely about it. But perhaps if you've got a little bit of a take on it, what what could and should we be doing day to day as businesses in well, not just Medway, but Gravesham and Dartford.

I think we do have more certainty from a month and two days ago.

This is true. Yes.

Which is that before this, we didn't know what it'd be because of that five different options were put forward. Is it gonna be one gigantic Kent and Medway wide single authority? Is it gonna be five, four, three? Is it gonna be district divided up in North Kent where we're gonna involve Sway or will we not? And now at least we do have that certainty, which is it's going to be the current borders of Medway, Gravesham, and Dartford.

So now at least we've got a slice of area which we know that if you're in that area, you know what your future is. You know that you're not in West Kent, South Kent, East Kent, Mid Kent, or whole of Kent. You are going to be North Kent. So it does mean that it's good to continue to work on those relationships, knowing that the people on your patches are gonna be the people that are there in two years' time. It's just the change will come really when there's the shadow election next year.

So next May, the whole of North Kent will elect, I think, some 90 odd, 80 something. No. Capacity for a 100 different councilors that are gonna cover the wards that go all the way from the Hoop Peninsula up to the Thames Estuary. And those are people that will be making the long term financial and structural decisions that will affect the North Kent area.

Do you think it makes sense what we what we've ended up with? Does it because we had all sorts of options, didn't we, where we were starting to be linked with with, say, Maidstone and I I can't remember how far it went, but sort of Maidstone sort of Tunbridge y type areas. So do you think what we've ended up with makes sense from your point of view?

I think it makes sense on both a geographical and an economic sense because if you look at the four areas you've got, you've got Mid Kent, which seems like the longest, strangest one that goes all the way from the Isle Of Sheppie down through Maidstone, Folkston, Ashford. I mean, it's like 100 and something miles and, you know, if you

Yeah.

Yeah. If that was my patch and in a day, I had one meeting at one end in the other, that's that's a four day journey. I'm I'm not doing that. Whereas, you know, to hear it from here if I'm here in Gillingham and I have another meeting in Dartford and I've got a whole area to catch, it's fine. But even then, you do see a sort of homogenous area as that.

North Kent, it's the sort of Thames Gateway corridor. It's more industrialized. It's more urban. And then, I mean, compare it apples and oranges, the second largest population business rates authority is West Kent, which is massive. Let's go from Tunbridge Malling Tunbridge yeah.

Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Mallings, and you've Seven Oaks and Maidstone. It's a massive green area, massive green belt, a lot of areas you can't build on. Very leafy, very commuter belt. Is very different to us. And I think you'd say the same with East Kent.

By the time you actually get there, it's a whole different coastal world. Yes. And I think where Swayle was up for the option of joining us, I think where they are, they're better placed to be in that.

I I think as a as a business person and person who lives in Kent in the South East, I think one of the things that I I would have taken on board is that it's actually really difficult if driving, let alone going on public transport, to get from Medway to, say, Sevenoaks

Yeah.

Tonbridge. Yeah. You it's several trains. I'm not even sure that the buses go between Medway and there. Driving, there isn't a clear route.

Whereas if I want to go to Graves Gravesend, if I want to go to Dartford, I can sort of hop on the M 2 Yeah. I can hop up on the M 20, and I can sort of drive up there. There are buses that go up, there are coaches that go up, and there are trains that go up. So

Transport wise, especially, we are the only high speed goes straight through, and we have the empty corridor. The others, I mean, I was in a conversation with a car and my team the other day who was saying about West Kent because question internally, we get very excited in the council. Where's our headquarters gonna be? Even if we're all working from home, do you still need a headquarters? And in Medway, we might be investing a certain amount into us so that it has a chamber larger enough.

Not saying that that becomes the headquarters automatically because you need somewhere, but, of course, you need satellite offices. Too many people, not enough seats. So but the question was about West Kent. Where is an easy central place that goes between Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, Tunbridge

There there

is 07:00.

Isn't one, is there?

There's some, I think, Edenbridge. I think there's a there's a little conference center there that might work.

There's a cafe just Yeah.

A lovely cafe right there. And, again, you think, you know, again, if you're representing The Isle Of Sheppey , and there's the other one in Folkestone, and it you just Ashford, is that the easy with no motorway in the middle? We I think, as an era, we have the most homogenous. This is yeah. This practically, this is

mean, we we go up to London from here and pick our chums up on the way.

Yeah. We followed the river.

We're actually

following the river. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Business wise, I think I think most of us are already open to the idea that we collaborate. We we collaborate with everybody, don't we? We work in London, we work in, you know, Essex, we already work around and and sort of work with different people. Is there anything else that we can be doing that ties into, if you like, this merger, we'll call it, or should we just carry on as normal?

I don't think carrying on as normal. I think for some, not a huge amount is gonna change. If you're a larger business, especially, more grounded, at best, you know, you need planning permission in order to expand and get a bigger site. Yeah. That doesn't really change because each authority is a planning authority as it is.

So KCC, Medway, Districts, it doesn't change how it is. I think for the smaller ones though, there's a huge opportunity to avoid what I've been banging on about last few years, the postcode lottery. So back in the day of EU funding, for my last one, I was banging on that, I would have £15,000,000, and it would go to businesses between, Norfolk down to Brighton. So I have a whole of the South East. It was very simple.

So if you're in Gravesend, Dover, Suffolk, it doesn't matter. You all got the same treatment. Since then, everything is on your doorstep. So this is the difficulty, especially when I go to North Kent events like yours, Adelle. Yes.

And there are businesses there from Medway, they say, what can happen? I go, you have this, this, this, this. And they oh, that's fantastic. But I'm not actually in Medway. I'm over here.

What do I have? Nothing. Whereas I think this is an opportunity to actually change that so that you do have some certainty, so it's not that, you know, you're on the wrong side of the road, so you have nothing. So you can say, yeah, I'm in North Kent, I'm entitled to this. I'm in West Kent, I'm entitled to this.

Whereas it's not, I'm in Sevenoaks, whereas my friends in Tunbridge and Morning can have this.

So really, it's going to tie in with the way a lot of us are working as businesses already. So, you know, we have a number of networking events. We have a number of events where there's a lot of collaboration going on as far as the businesses are concerned. And now we'll be able to have local councils if we do already. We have you, Sian, coming along to Yeah.

You know, Adelle's event. You come along to my stuff as well. You know, the women in business big show, that sort of thing. And it means that within reason, anybody that's there is going to be able to come and talk to you, and you're not gonna have to turn them away.

Even Which

is which is really nice. Yeah.

Actually, it becomes even better because when you have these more parochial district ones that have that me, me, me thing, you can't have that overall thing, like I said. When it's the whole of the South East, come to Sean and his team. They'll tell you about the grants. They'll tell you about the support. They'll tell you about the offer.

Whereas when it's just Medway, it's come to Sean. When it's just Gravesend, it's come to Keith. When it's just Ashford, it's go talk to Andrew's. It becomes too much, let okay. In two weeks, I'm gonna be on holiday.

Who do you talk to? It's a difficult thing. Whereas if it if you actually economies of scale, bring these teams together and they're all sing from the same him sheet, we can all sell the same thing. Yeah. It just makes it easier both as a business proposition for us and for you to know what you're accessing.

And there's the fairness of it as well, isn't there? It's, you know, if if you're in Medway, you get one set of grants and opportunities. And if you're next door in Graves Gravesham, you may not. I mean, who who knows?

And that that's the trouble. Mean, some of these borders are literally the same street. Mhmm. The these borders where they end. Whereas, like I said, it you say, oh, oh, what was it?

I had one. Just in Shaun. Shaun just the village of Shaun, right next to Shaun Woods, that border of Medway to me is one of my favorite country parks. It's gonna be a central part of the Lower Thames Crossing, which is the biggest opportunity for the whole of North Kent, not just Medway, and that's the key opportunity there. Yeah.

But if you're a business based in Shaun, you say, I'm basically Medway. Technically, you're not though, and I'm accountable to the taxpayers and the business repairs of Medway. So whereas if it's North Kent, we're safer.

So overall, this is a good thing.

I think so.

We need to embrace it. So right now, I I think I think most people are already building collaborations, collaborations, aren't aren't they? They? That's the way that we very often work. And so I think what you're saying is is that the the local authority landscape is going to be reflecting what we're already doing in a geographical way that actually makes sense.

Yeah. It's very simple. I mean Yeah. We've always got, you know, the overarching sort of invest Kent, visit Kent, the growing Kent idea, which was, you know, if if we're trying to compete with the Manchester's and the Edinburgh's and Cambridge of the world, Yeah. It's still need a larger voice to say because, you know, you can't go to, you know, Carnes or LA and say, invest North Kent because they'll go, where the hell is North Kent?

Yeah. Whereas if we say, invest Kent, visit Kent, we still got that. But we have our own unique identity, which is, like I said, it's more industrial corridor. So if you are a business, if you're Amazon looking to build another fulfillment center or maybe something different, a car manufacturer, small

We can we can explain. We can say this is this is us and this is where we are.

We can say here we are

and we've got the transport links.

We've got London, we've got the rivers, whereas again, in West Kent, the proposition is gonna be completely different.

So good news.

Very good news.

Right then. Let's go on to something that currently is a little bit more focused. At the moment, everything is sort of still focused around where we are. So we're gonna be talking about Medway grants, funding updates, and what's available to businesses through the local authority, through Medway Council at the moment. So do you want me to read some bits out?

Shall I give you a prompt? Give

me the list. There's too much to remember.

Okay. So I don't mind how we do it. I'll either will I go through it or you can

give I'll me go on you go through a list.

So let's talk about the Medway Together Fund. Where are we with that? Is it still happening? What's going on?

So the Medway Together Fund is an alteration where we brought in house. So there was, for four years, government funding called shared prosperity fund. And, again, that was something to replace EU funding, but it was four districts, which added to the postcode lottery. But this was for all both economic and social regeneration. We used it for a lot of events in the town supporting CICs.

Basically, anything to bring the community together make that make you actually proud of where you live and that you actually care about it. Had some fantastic economic development issues come out of it, some fantastic events, carnivals, you know, that we support. But the shared prosperity fund ended, and the decision was made in house, basically. We'll continue the funding. We'll make it work to continue it for at least another two years.

So on year one, made way to give a fund. Due to a combination of the fact that people and groups have had four years to learn exactly what to say and what boxes to tick, and AI. Do you love AI? Oh, I can always tell an AI generated application. We have a £400,000 fund, and there were over 300 applicants applying for between 10 to £15,000 each.

So to say the competition is fierce

Mhmm.

Wow. I I remember saying last time I was on here that when it comes to moderating them, you have to be the bad guy Mhmm. Because there are just so many. So it's basically any floor you can find, you have to dig out. Mhmm.

But and I can't say this to friends in the room because I'm not allowed to moderate theirs, because you can't be accused of bias. But some of the ones I went through, there's a hodgepodge of that would be really amazing if it had another $100. Yeah. Those should really go back to the drawing board and a couple that are absolute gems that are gonna change Medway. And

So I think what you're saying there, just if we put this out as advice for people who are applying for grants, is it's to actually get your head and your application around ring fencing what you're going for and saying, okay, how is this a pot of money going to make a difference within my business? Not just, okay, well if I get that pot of money, I'm going to bundle it in with a lot of other stuff and we'll see what comes out. It's actually yeah. Put putting it as an as a as a nugget rather than it it's feeding into millions somewhere else.

As as a standalone Yeah. And I'll say this again in the applications and if you're going for a job or bid writing anything else, if you throw it into AI, it's gonna throw out a load of buzzwords. Yeah. And I'm gonna read a load of buzzwords and I can't tell what you're selling. Whereas if you say, look, I need this money.

It's gonna make a difference to this many people in Medway. Mhmm. And especially when it comes to next year's. Because next year, as far as we know, this order is committed, is gonna be the last one. That may change after LGL, the shadow government, the shadow authority.

Mhmm. That might change. But for now, it's next year, the priority is gonna be how is it sustainable. Mhmm. Because first year, go, oh, yeah.

That's fantastic. Run that event. Cool. Next year, they're still funding. Year after, they're still funding.

If we're saying next year, that the next year, we don't know if there's funding. Alright. So if we give you money next year, then that's it.

Can you self fund?

Can Or find another brand. Will yeah. Will this lead to the next step? Yeah. And that's the main part.

Yeah. But it's that uniqueness because I had of all the ones I moderated, actually counted nine of them were, give me money so that I can subsidize my product to other people. That's not a great sales pitch. Generally, I find it's it's okay. So I said, okay.

I've got a bottle of water here, Sian. I'm gonna sell 10 of these. But if you give me nine quid, I'll sell them each for 10 p each.

Mhmm.

That's not a real sales pitch. That's not a great sales pitch. That's that's just asking me to subsidize your business. It's not how you're actually gonna help others and develop. How is that sustainable?

You wanna be you wanna take stabilizers off. You wanna get for me, I see it as a step a start up, and then you put a business plan in that means you're then self sustainable, or you've got the credibility to go to another grant or get a big sponsor because you've built success.

Exactly that. What what leads on? Not saying, okay. If if you give me this money, then this year I can do this. And then next year, if you give me the same money, I can do it again.

Right. Because I said, if you're asking us next year, there's no

self Yeah. So it has to start basically, it has to it has to be, if you like, boxing what you're going to achieve, and it has to be that you're going to achieve it with that

Or

least amount of money. Yeah.

Or have

the next step

And it's got life Show the sandbox. Show the sandbox. I'm gonna prove this is gonna work, and after that, it's gonna be massive.

Think, you know, I think that is such valuable information and advice for people listening in.

Horribly blunt. It's not in the leaflet.

It's Yeah. But but but this stuff isn't in leaflets, is it? Because it's actually quite difficult to explain in a leaflet. Yeah. It's something that you get in your head isn't it?

You you need to have that frank conversation sometimes to be able to to get the cells to sort of work together.

Yeah. Because grant obviously is new new for me, it's new territory. But you've you've got to apply, you've you've got to live beyond the grant. So the grant isn't binary I'll get the grant I'll do that or when the project stops I would be like oh my god not saying that's a waste of money but you've got to get the grant and get to an opportunity where again it lives beyond the grant then that's when you're truly yeah for me And and you have to think like that, don't you? Yeah.

It's not as binary as I get the grant, all that stops.

Oh. Yeah. Where where where is this these? What's the next step when I don't have that money?

And I think it does work for events.

Yeah.

And I'll say that using Business and Skills Showcase as an example. Sure. The council took it on at risk. You know, if it didn't work out, I was still gonna get paid on the twenty fifth. Luckily, did.

Luckily, used some clout to get in some sponsors. Lost no money. Bit of staff time, fair enough,

but Yeah.

Well spent. It brings community care, but that's our job. That's what we do. But who was willing to take that on? Who was willing to do it before me?

Would you have gone, okay, Sian, you might this might cost you $30. You might get nothing back. Let's go for it. That's a hard sell. Whereas for me to do it two years in a row and go, made it work, then someone else can take it on.

Exactly. Exactly the way we can say, oh, okay. We'll fund you for the first year. Now you've got your product, you can say, look, it works. Then you can go out to other sponsors and say, look.

Yeah. It's what you do.

Because no one will take the risk. If you're especially if you're a new a new charity or a new social enterprise, it's it's for me, it's having a responsibility to you that had faith to give me that means that I make sure it's got legs.

But I you know, also I know of two, possibly three, we'll call them businesses, but community interest companies who have lost their funding. That just happens. Yeah. And that's it. We're done.

Finished. Because there isn't actually anything else. If if they lose that funding, there hasn't been any growth in there to build in sustainability. And funding is you can't rely on anything, you certainly can't rely on funding.

And it's it's a generational shift, I'll say, because not been around long enough in the government to see it, but I've heard about it. The fact that, you know, thirty years ago, there was always money. Oh, there's this grant now. You can have that. Oh, there's this group account.

And I just remember that when I actually go into local government, it was the basically, my role was to expand into a massive area that the council were taken on, turn that into a business center to actually make some money. Because they'd taken it on and then got rid of 40% of their staff after the two thousand and eight crash. Because cut after cut after cut, and things haven't really changed. There's been this fund, that fund, but it's you can't rely on there always being that money. So it's and that forces that entrepreneurial mindset.

Yeah. There's that self saving, like, here's your grant this year. Next year, how are actually gonna make money from it? Because it can't be, oh, well, I'll just come back to you.

No. No? And I think I think the other thing is I and I I see this now, and I don't believe it's true, is people saying there isn't any money around. They can't they need funding because there isn't any money around. So there there is no other route.

They have to be donated the money, given the money through public funds, because there's nobody out there who's actually able to buy what they're selling, and I don't believe that is true. No. I just there is money out there. There is a lot of money out there circulating around the world, around Kent. You'd you're just not tapping into it.

I'm sorry. That sounds really harsh.

I I agree, and I think you can see that in the landscape of sponsorship. So this year, apart from COVID, for the last forty two years, Medway Business Award has gone on every single year since the docks closed. This year, it's not happening. We cannot get the sponsors. We're gonna try and drag them out so that next year, we can have one as a last hurrah before hopefully turning into a North Kent one.

But the same businesses who, ten, twenty years ago, there you go. Gone. Here's couple of grand. Here's my logo. That's nice.

Get a little bit of press. That's great. But now, everything has to be quantified. You've got your machines in your pocket. You've got them on your phone.

You've got algorithms. You're going through Google Analytics. Am I actually hitting? Is that a conversion rate? Blah blah blah.

And because you've got that science behind you, which isn't I'll just take out an ad in the paper. It's okay. What's the conversion rate of me actually sponsoring this? And if you can't quantify that, if you can't say, I'm gonna have so many people in the room, and it might lead to this on the some evidence of, oh, yeah. This person exhibited last year.

This person sponsored last year and led to this. It's a hard sell.

They're not gonna hand their money over.

But I think I think, you know, sometimes you can just go to some of our shopping centers and just look at what people are spending their money on. You know, I I drive past a a car wash place a couple of times a day, and the cars are down down the street queuing up to have somebody put water on their car and wash it. When actually, probably, I've let's not we won't go down the hose pipe band, but really

Your bucket.

You know, you could sort of do that yourself at home, and yet that number of people are choosing to pay somebody else. There is money, and that's quite a small example. Go and have a look at people queuing up outside to go and buy chicken in a, you know, in restaurant. And it's not even that great, is it? You know?

You're talking about Popeyes? I'm not talking about anything. I'm not mentioning no names, I'm mentioning no names, but there are people queuing to get into places to eat really quite indifferent nasty chicken. And they could actually go and get one from somewhere else and take it home, but they're not. The money is there.

Yeah. So that's the way I choose I choose to look at it, it's just about where people are spending it.

Yeah, and for me it's having that compelling story, and then for me I think the difference is what we've said is showing that you can use the money for something that survives beyond the grant. And if you are then going to businesses or grants say look, this is the so what and why you.

You can

tell who looks after me. Shout out to Tim, the so what and why you. And then from that, I say, yeah. I need the money for this. And actually, I then wanna be an opportunity to then get a bigger sponsor.

You know, I won't come back. It's always run out. I've I've got to stop this project. And for me, that went, okay. Okay.

You're thinking differently. You have to think differently, and for me you have to have that compelling story. Because there is money, but you've got to, you know, somebody that's so what and why me?

Shall I tell you what it feels like for me? And I'm not sure whether this is I don't recall it sexist, I'm not sure. But it's it's like relying on a spouse for your income. Yeah.

No. I

agree. It's it's perfect analogy, really,

isn't it? And it's like, it's it's fine. They're doing they're doing really, really well. It's marvelous. But what happens if they get ill or leave or something else happens?

If you're relying on me every year for a grant to be the business running, can I find a younger mistress? What are you gonna do?

Think it's a dog.

Sorry, Charlotte. Sorry. Honestly

agree with you because when I I've dipped the toe now into nonprofit for the last three years of thirty two years of driving shareholder value, and I remember sitting in rooms going, oh, well, we just wait for donations. And I I thought, you you can't. You can't. Oh and it was like all that entrepreneurial mindset social enterprise this it and never you know you won't and I'm like you but I have that I couldn't take somebody's money and do something not knowing I've never relied on anybody, maybe that's what it is. But for me and I spotted then three years ago, we've got to think differently and what's happened over the change and even more so now, if you're trying to run a non profit you have to think differently.

And you can't have like the thirty years of well I always get my donation from X every January and I'm like but what if X doesn't come through but they do. What also It's

just if what if X doesn't come through. Yeah. What what if they go and leave me for a younger person? Thank you. Thank you so much.

I'm feeling feeling now. But it's not just that, it's about well what if they change their values? If they change what they want? What if they change what they're expecting me to do? And actually, I tell you what, what they want, what they now want me to do is just really is not what I'm about.

It just is not me.

Yeah.

Now what are gonna do?

And also, the other bit, again again, the three years in this world is I'm also now responsible for supporting people through something, through funding. Mhmm. And you're like, woah. That's a whole different level to shareholder values and dividends. So if I don't get that and secure that, that means this group of people, support is Yep.

You know, it's a whole Honestly, every day is a school day for me, but it And that is why you have to think differently. And for me it's the blend of both.

So, I think that message there is look at the grants, apply for the grant, but understand that this is sort of it, contain it, and don't look at it as well as long as I keep getting that in every year it's going Because be that may not happen. The conditions may change such as you that isn't something you wanna do.

I will say as well, if you can look at the landscape and collaborate. As I said, I had multiple that were selling the same thing. If you just worked together, I would have three organizations singing from the same hymn sheet, delivering something enhanced by all three. Instead, it was Oh. Three competing with each other, all looking the same.

Oh, interesting. So maybe look at who you already know, who you who you can collaborate and look at putting in a joint Yeah. Yeah? Yeah.

Rather than duplicates.

Yeah. Yeah. I I I like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Let's move on to the Midway shop front grant scheme.

So Midway shop front grant, from the start, I said it was gonna be a very challenging one simply because it was a government fund that was very specific in how it can be spent, which is only capital. So it means that if you want a bricks and mortar, lick of paint, new window, sorry. That's fine. Nothing to administrate it. So we managed to offload some tasks, drag in some people from other teams, basically go door knocking to try and sell it.

Politicians went around as well, so thank you for that cross party help. But even then, the only example we had was trying to do it with four years in one street with consultant help, one person dedicated full time, and extra money for things like, you know, architects, planning, things like that. We had none of that. So one of the main issues we've had is trying to impress upon people that, look, this might involve planning applications. This might involve that.

But, again, Medway is fantastic for this. Our planning team basically volunteered someone to just give free plan planning advice. So we saved everyone who applied £400 by giving them free advice, which was, okay, you wanna do this? Okay. We're not gonna approve that.

But if you change the color, you don't even have to do that. If you just wanted to change a sign, okay, it's £139. You just put in your application, but we'll approve it. You're in a conservation area. I know you want pink neon lights.

You can't have that. And I think that was absolutely fantastic. And I've seen other schemes. No one's got that before. For some, that was fantastic.

Okay. So I'll scale back. I'll do that. That's tick box done. Some are still fighting.

Some are still on social media this morning complaining that we hate business because we told them that what they want to do, they can't do. But if they wanted to go for it with planning advice, here's you have to do the full application. It will cost £850. But unless you tick these boxes, we're still not gonna accept it. Mhmm.

Midway Council hates businesses. Sorry. But we cannot break planning law, and we don't have the funding to fund the planning application because it's government funding with very, very strict guidelines. However, as of last week, 41 have been approved across Medway. About six have been completed and paid, as far away as Cliff, a little cafe down there, Pure Planet.

And it's going progressing very well. It's been about a $145 we've committed. So we are going through the funding, which is fantastic. We had to close it due to the amount that are still in the process of

Got it.

Yeah. But if if you work with us, you can get exactly what you want done. We've had some great ones. I don't know you saw in the newsletter Copperfields on Rochester High Street.

Yeah.

Lovely antique store on the outside. It's not that lick of paint in a long time. It was this glowing blue thing when it started years and years and years ago. But by the time they sent in there before and after, well, before pictures, paint's peeling off, and you can really notice it. And it's like, unless you actually got up and gone, oh, yeah.

Because Rochester High Street, generally quite a nice high street. You don't look at and think, well, it needs help. But now, look at it. It's shining blue. Honestly, it stands out amongst its neighbors.

And along with a load of other newer shops, especially down Rochester High Street, you don't wanna be the one that hasn't been decorated in ten, '20 Of course, we've little ones that are coming up between Gillingham, Chatham Yeah. Strood as well, and you can really see the impact. What I wanna organize in a couple of months is basically a tour. Basically, I wanna go through Yeah. Rochester.

We're gonna have a long walk.

Lots of photos.

A long, long walk. Yeah. Just basically, look. This is that and showing them before and after because you don't know it's on the high street.

So what's the situation if somebody is listening in and says, good heavens. That sounds wonderful. Applications next year, anything left? What can they do?

What we can hope is another round of funding. Okay. And I said this was a bit of a surprise one. It was only 1,500,000. 1 point I'd love to have that in the bank, wouldn't you?

Only. Only. Only. It is the context. I was saying there's, like, 250,000 people in Medway.

So I'd say 1,500,000, I can't buy if I a Big Mac. No. So when you actually spread the love, the love doesn't go very far.

So your your contribution to the livers of Medway is right. Okay. Is we have a bought everybody a bird.

We've got a new prime minister who does seem focused on localism. Yeah. And if that means that locally we can support through local schemes, we will. Yeah. But this is a £1,500,000 fund.

That's only a fifth of it. The rest of it, you're gonna start to see coming through in Gillingham and Chatham.

I think I think the thing that that comes out of that for me is is that if you want a grant, I'm gonna say you have to play the game, but you do. People are not gonna break laws to give you money, and you you have a choice, don't you? You can play the game, you can do what is appropriate in the context of of planning legislation, other legislation, or not. You can or you can just have that argument and get nothing.

And the not part has become quite a problem. Mhmm. And I try to mitigate as many risks as possible and be blunt as possible with people. Yeah. But we've had the ones that are fighting back.

Like I said, we've got an actual planner who has post qualified graduate degrees and all the rest. They've been doing it for years. They know this inside now, and they've given you free advice. You've got no. No disagree.

I don't yes. That's clearly wrong.

Even better, you can tell when they put it through ChatGPT to get the answer they want because ChatGPT is your yes man. That's what AI is. It's sales testing. And the salesman sending you a car isn't gonna go, no. That car is not good enough for you.

You're gonna get the answer you want. So then they push back, which means we can't give you the money. And on the other hand is this. They say, okay. Well, if you just keep it as it is Yeah.

Don't change anything massively, then you don't need the planning commission. It's all the rest. Keep it in same color scheme. Okay. Yeah.

We're gonna do that. Okay. We're gonna do that. Send through the after photos.

Oh, no. Changed it.

Changed everything.

Woah.

At that point, we can't give you the money you've already spent in order to change it, and we have to pass it over to enforcement. That's not me being horrible. Don't get a bonus for not giving you money.

It's law.

It's yeah. It's like sorry. We can you come up grant an exemption? It's the law. It we don't like we don't set it.

The council doesn't say, oh, we don't like your shot. We're gonna punish you. This is I'm sorry. This is

the thing is that sometimes people really don't understand, do they? And the the I can't imagine them going into a court or into a police station and saying, okay, I actually I've had enough, I need to murder my partner because of this, that and the other. Yeah, but if you could just make an exception, I don't think you understand, They're like this.

I know.

And it's and and I think it because it's planning and all of that sort of thing, I think they're a they are local decisions, aren't they? It's but but it's also guidance. It's there. You can't just make arbitrary decisions. Other otherwise, we'd all be doing really strange things, wouldn't we?

I'd have

You'd you'd have an extension

over Yeah. Was just looking at I'd have an extension that goes out into the middle of the road.

Yeah. Or But if your plan's been approved to this spec, and the after picture is a different spec, then in some ways, that's breach of

It's no. That this this is the trouble. That's what we've had to threaten people. It's basically because we now got the examples of, oh, yeah. I'm gonna keep it all the same.

That's exactly what I'm gonna do, and then you've done something completely different. That's fraud.

Yeah.

Yeah. So this is no this is the government money. Yeah. This is no different to a benefits chief. Yes.

This is basically saying, I've got this disability and that disability and getting money for not to the same scale, obviously, to same string of law, but it's still lying to get taxpayer funding.

I'm sorry. I have absolutely no sympathy at all. I don't know if it's because I have a local government background and I see the other side of it. I don't know. I have no sympathy

at all. Think as well, for me, it's where we have tried to help. We have really made it clear. Okay. If it's not like for like, you're going to be punished and we're not gonna give you the money.

Yeah, it's still like for like. They just think where it is. And the amount of ones that are sent in AI generated pictures after, okay, luckily

Could just

chop up

the road and have a look at it, can't you?

Thankfully, we're not some industrial body up the road. I said our first fund came in up in Cliff. It's next to a nature reserve. I went, you know what? It's a weekend.

I'm gonna go up and check it myself.

I'll be going

to I'm up there taking pictures like for like. Well done you. Well done you. One on the high street. Knowing that we have town center team.

Knowing that people are there every day. Knowing that we are locals and we can easily check this, that's not what you sent in. That's not or better yet, one I found. Mhmm. Sent through.

Oh, We wanna have this done. Here's our big sign. I say, it looks weirdly cropped. It looks weirdly cropped. Alright.

That's hold on. Hold on. Are you sure hold on. So has someone already printed this? So we

could get a team to sign off.

Because It's a set it's really nice. It's quite really jazzy. It's very bold. And I was like, have you got planning permission for this yet? Cause you're gonna need it for that.

I was like, no. No. No. We don't need that. Why don't you need it?

Oh, you just don't. The next day, someone I saw on LinkedIn that I know has visited them. It's already been done. Well, it does sound a thing that we can't approve this or give you money until we've approved it. You've already done it, and now you're asking for money in hindsight, and we've had to pass you over to the planning team because you've done something you have.

Sorry.

So, lessons We're

not here to punish. We're here to

support business. Yeah. The lessons. Actually, are controls there are controls in place for a very good reason.

Yeah. Yeah.

And there is no choice. They have to be abided by. If you don't like that, take it to a higher level, become a politician, become a counsellor, start yeah. Know, become prime minister, start influence start influencing these decisions yourself. If you don't want to do that, better just and you wanna have a grant, better just sort of toe the line and stop arguing, really, because the law is the law.

Right. Okay. What about Partners for Growth?

So I was discussing with Adelle earlier. So Partners for Growth has been around for about thirty years, if not longer, actually. Probably longer. And until about a few years ago, it was a managed archaically one with Excel spreadsheets, the Lictal Chamber of Commerce, etcetera. And on average, it gave between one and two thousand out a year.

When I came along, decided to bring it online. So you see, so it's quantified. It's all there. Give us your evidence, bank statements, give us your profit and loss, blah blah blah, hedge your thousand pounds. And I think two years ago, we gave about $50 away.

And this year, so far, 35. And we've still got a pot going. We've had a couple of good ones recently, a couple of bad ones. And the bad ones, I'm gonna say this. Three things.

One, please stop using AI. If it's just buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, it's not something. Two, look at the word growth. It will say on the website, we can't fund your day to day expenses. I need petrol to get to my window.

Yeah. You need should have need pay that office I need to pay my office rent. Rent. I need to pay for SEO and marketing and all the rest of it. It's not new.

I'm purchasing this new machine that will make me 10 times more productive. Cool. So it's very simple condition, isn't it? But that just gets ignored. So if it's not for growth, if it's to maintain your day to day, then it's not that.

Second of all, it's for growth, not for pre start. If you've got an idea for a business, you're not there yet. We've got business

Can you give me an example of what you don't obviously not give give names or anything, but actually give the an an example of somebody that was successful for growth, and what that what what that looked like in the context of their business and their application.

An easy one, and I'm sure you do know the owner of this one, but I won't give her name out. She makes jam. Alright? So she's working from her kitchen. She's actually doing quite well.

She's already got a brand out there. She's a marketing plan. It's starting to get into different shops and different around this, that, and the other. She's got partnership with Chris, etcetera. But she's making this jam, and she's filling each pot by hand.

Finds a machine. It costs about £700. Automatic squirt, screws on, squirt, screws on, squirt, screws on. Productivity, she can measure. Sales increase, she can measure.

It's it's a weird little niche. It's a novel one. But like another one, she was a travel agent before COVID. Didn't really work out during COVID, but she got into collectibles. So you can engrave these little discs, and they'll have, like, know, Egypt, Corfu, wherever you're going.

I'm a magnet person myself, but I can understand understand that travel collectible, but I'm magnets. So these little things, little engraved. And she's got this old machine. It runs off this, like, c o two cylinder. It's causing pollution anyway.

It can only do this. And then best application, I would use this if I could embarrass her, but I'll put it on the website to say, look. It's like, yeah. This current machine, it can manufacture about five per minute. This new one, we're gonna give about 58, an increase of x times blah blah blah, number percent.

It'll be this time more efficient. It'll save me this much in electricity. I can produce this many more. It'll cost it'll make my profit margin go up this much. That's what I love to see.

Doesn't Did have she have to show that she had the sales growth to match that? Because you can produce as many as you like, can't you?

Yes. If you

can't set and then what you've got, you've got rooms full of them.

Which then comes to the third point. Show you're active. The amount we're getting lately of the pre starts. So we ask for a business bank account. Here's the Monzo I set up yesterday with nothing in it.

Oh, okay. So how how is it for growth when you haven't started? So like I said, it shows that. So we ask for the profit and loss. It doesn't need to be perfect.

In fact, I'd love it to be a bit more realistic. So some of them, when they think they're getting 20% increase each month

Yes.

In profit, I wouldn't be giving you the counter. I'd be investing personally. Yeah. Because in in two years time, when my £10 I've given you today is worth 85,000,000, I'm gonna retire. Yeah.

So be realistic, you know. Yeah. If you're going up 20% a month, well done, you. But I'm not that I've I've been doing this a long time. Now.

So you you need you need you need to get your numbers right. But also, the other thing that this shows us about is, you know, using this example, is number one, okay, normal people can do this with, I'm not gonna say small businesses, but these are the the this this is not doing fancy stuff, is it? It's it's not it's not electronics. It's not this it's jam and holiday discs.

I'm I said it. If if you're coming to me with a great idea and asking for a thousand pounds and you're gonna be the next Google, great for my PR. Honestly, when I put that on the CV, it's gonna be brilliant. Not expecting that. This is for homegrown talent who needs that first Bit of equipment or Yeah.

Whether it goes

to that whole side of my

last hobby that's making a few quid. But, you know, if

I if I do

this camera. I think maybe next year, if I can increase that, I can then do a new sales route. I can get into this, and then maybe I'll be taking someone on. This is seed funding.

Yeah.

It's seed. I I know. Okay. I'm gonna be honest. I don't think every single thousand pound or £2,000 I give out is gonna lead to the next unicorn.

I hate to say that. I probably shouldn't. Most of it is probably gonna go out in a drain. But some of it is actually gonna be that first step. And even then, you know what?

You you you know it. Working businesses that, you know, I'm working currently from the kitchen table. That's where I'm filling my jam pots. I've got this thing, you know, I I like making jam. It's a nice hobby, you know.

I've I've heard you go to a farmer's market, you can sell this pot for, £4, and I'll see if we can make that work. And I've got this idea of this thing. It's gonna make you a bit more efficient, then I'm I'm gonna go to the council. You're probably not good enough. And they give you money for it.

It legitimizes you. Yeah. That And you

might need a factory in

five years

time. I have seen and that is why

I really I think you know you're talking talking too, that that is. I mean, that's one of the things about me that I'm so passionate about is I see so many people who don't consider they are a proper business, and that's sort of in inverted commas.

But it's the time investment. I

just I just love that. I think one of the things that can be tricky is that making jam is a hobby. It's a it's a it's a lovely hobby, and I think making cupcakes, it could be, you know, you could be a plumber working for somebody else and you just love plumbing. The reality is, and I think The E Myth by Michael Gerber is such a good book for this, is that's lovely, but actually you're gonna spend probably 80% of your time not making any jam or doing any plumbing. And that what was now your hobby, if you're gonna take it beyond that, is actually possibly you're gonna have to get somebody else to make the jam, because you are gonna be doing the marketing and growing the business and talking to people like the council and business, you know, other business owners and making those collaborations.

You may never make a pot of jam again in the rest of your life. And I think that's sometimes where the stumbling block is. And once you start doing that, think you see yourself as a proper business. And then, you know, and and you're at you're right, getting a grant from the council, even I think somebody talking to you from the council, and sitting down and going, yes, right, how can we look at this? I think that legitimizes what you're doing.

I think I think that is a very big mindset separation in my industry because you do get some, I think it's an old fashioned way, I think my predecessor did this basically. You You to the big companies, you got hundreds of employees, okay, here's how we could, like, you know, improve your factory. There might be this government funding to get, you know, a million pounds worth of loans and all the rest of that. And that's where they were, they're big hitters. I just just don't see how I could really help them.

Like, BAEs of the world, okay, you know what? They're expanding, they're doing well. You know, if we can get you an extra car park on the land we've got, fantastic. Let's do that. But when it comes to the smaller ones, I mean, I had a consultant recently who was saying, why don't I focus more on those big businesses?

I'm like, well, they don't need me. He said, you know who I spend more time patronizing? Cheesecake lady. Again, won't give that a name. But the amount of time I actually spend with her compared to I've spent more time with her personally than I have with BAE Systems as our largest employer.

It makes such a difference to their lives, to the lives of their families, but also in the community. Because very often, what they're spending, you know, you know, if you double your disposable income if your disposable income is a £100 and you double that and it's £200 and you spend that in the community, and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of those businesses.

And the example I like, the cheesecake lady, we go down to the local market, she makes a few. I buy too much cheesecake, I get fat, I blame her.

You go to weight watchers. Because

I spent so much of money on cheesecake, I can't afford a Zen pick, and it just it's a whole circle. But I I like to patronize the market because an example I like to use in my early career was Thomas Cookie Co. Started off, this lovely chap, making cookies, selling on farmer's market, lovely cookie. I need to stop eating or stop talking about delicious things, I need lunch. But I just remember the fact that he started off doing that, and then he's got a little farmer's market thing, and then he gets a bit bigger.

And I remember helping him get his factory. And I think, compared to my salary, the amount you're getting back in business, right, it's just from that one hit her. Yeah. And I think cheesecake lady, when she gets a little shop, gets a little cake shop, and she's like, you know, I might expand and get a second one.

Yeah.

I could do a third. Yeah. It didn't that cumulative. That's the investment I see when it comes to that, like, legitimacy. Here's your thousand pound.

If you can turn it into $10, great. If can turn it into a $100,100, amazing. If it doesn't work out, you know what? We believed in you. We saw that.

We're not stupid. Some people think we are when they put in these applications and that, you know, I've got an idea for a business in a Monzo account with nothing in it. You know, we we see a lot of these. We spend time with businesses. We do understand what it's like.

That's why we're not doing it. It's hard. Yeah. Yes. We like the 17.

Right. Where do you think next, Adelle? Do you think pride of place? Do you want

to head over to Sofia? Yeah. So where are we with in terms of pride of place? So

Pride in place. Pride

in place.

Pride in place.

So we move on from the one that provided the shopfront grant and the public realm works in Gillingham and Chatham, which is Pride in Place Improvement Fund, which is 1,500,000, which is a one off for the year, which is nice. Pride in place is a neighborhood targeted one with £20,000,000 per neighborhood over ten years. And we got awarded three. So we've got Reed Common, Twiddle, and Luton, and they've got £20,000,000 each over the next ten years. Now the focus of the government is it's not for the council.

It's not for us to go, we know what's best for you. Normally, we would do this in consultation, especially when have time. We didn't have a huge amount of time with the last one, was told in October you've got till next month to spend it. But, yeah, we tried. But this one is community engagement.

I mean, the intention is that within a year and a half, we don't touch it. So we get to facilitate a few 100,000 pound, which is, you know what, we need to set up chairs. We need to set up boards. We need to set up communities. We need to get them engaged in theirs to understand what they want.

You know, you get the first off, which was the cam online went into Twiddle. What do you people want? Green grocers, butchers, basically, they want something that becomes more localized, more authentic, not going up to Liddell and Tesco. What brings the community together? And I think they have those examples.

But this is a new thing nationwide. Yeah. And we're learning from people that have done it, only awarded it six months before. Yeah. So that's at least giving us a chance to copy them and race ahead.

Yep. Yeah.

So we're starting with we're using the summer with engagement events. So we're using, like, local primary schools, basically, bringing the community. And it's that come tell us. Come tell us what you want in your community because these aren't huge areas. We're talking village sized areas with 20,000,000 pounds over

ten years. They're little squares, aren't they, effectively? Yes.

But I had that just looking at that through Strood, it has that between the arches that lead to Kuxton up to Papa John's, down to the retail park. It's just

It's a it's a small area.

It's a very small it's a very

hyper localize. It's it's walkable in five minutes, isn't it?

Easily. I did the Strood one. It's a it just two two minute little circle. It's it's not a huge it's not a huge area, but like I said, and though those setting up boards, getting the right chairs in, that's where, not saying we have our influence, but where we need to make sure that we get the right people in.

Because it's the duty of care of the money in the first

place where we can. Yeah. It's not to get the local busybody. It's to get the one who cares about their community,

no. For the

second one, it cares about the community, you're out again.

It's so important. That's a lot of money. It is quite difficult, isn't it, sometimes? Because, actually, I'm not the local busybody because I just can't be. I I just don't want to be.

I've got other things that I'm doing. And so it's a really fine balance, isn't it, of getting somebody who isn't the local busybody, who doesn't have some strange and weird being in charge agenda. Yep. And and but but who is prepared to put in that commitment to to make

And sure it that is a commitment. And it's an unpaid one as well.

Yeah. It's a lot of budget to look after.

And it's And, you know And

not upset everybody because someone Yeah.

And know. It's it's

talking And daffodils planted versus the butchers.

And that's

the thing. It's talking a ten year commitment. Yeah. Yeah. Considering half a business is a golden within a few years.

Yeah. And most people leave a job within two. But to ask someone, you plan ten years ahead. Yeah. I don't know what I'm having for dinner.

Yeah. So this is a real responsibility for it. And even then the board members to be part of that because then, you know, it it's still you who's gonna be held accountable. Yeah. It's not at the end of day that you get to moan because the council is spending your money.

We're we're facilitating this, then we're go, here you go. Yours. Yeah. If you need help or consult with you if you want

to So it looks it is good. Mhmm. It is brilliant. However, it's not a done deal, and in so much as it is very difficult to get that balance and to get those to get those right people in place, the right stakeholders without the ego, without the I'm in charge and let me out, I guess.

Even then, like I said, so there'll be accountability. So a local councillor and the local MP will be part of that board. So they will have the wider context of it. And I said, even, like, the local councillor, their ward is massive compared to these little areas. Let alone next year, and the ward's gonna get bigger.

Yeah. So what what you know, if you sat out there at the moment and you're a business and you may already know whether you're affected by the by the pride in place, how can they get involved?

I would say, once we've got those chairs in place, we'll be looking for board members. And it's gonna be an open call. It'll be in the newsletters, the social medias, the council, the rest. So try and keep your eye out for it. But if you do wanna be involved, do.

Because we don't necessarily want it just be a neighbor led one. Yeah. Just residential because that's it. It's important there are businesses. We want community groups, churches, etcetera.

Good balance. Yeah.

That balance that it's not just

because it really does if if you're a business in in one of these areas or even on the outskirts of one of these areas, if we start bringing more people in to the to the center of these small spaces, it sort of impacts how it affects everything, doesn't it?

It does. And it becomes basically the gem of the local area because these aren't given to areas that are historically deprived. So the intention would be to bring those up to the level of their neighbors. So if you're even in the neighborhood area, you have vested interest in now getting better. But when it comes to businesses, and I said those first examples they gave when they gave to Twiddle, no one said park benches.

No one even said street lights. I'm sure those will come up. It's, know, £20,000,000. Might as well. But the first thing they went for were businesses they wanted to see back.

So you can't just have people who don't have business experience asking for that. You need those other independent businesses, those cafe owners who say, okay, you want a butcher's, you're gonna need You

need this is what you need.

And that's the question And it's that mentality of do you know why you don't have a butcher's right now? It's because it doesn't make money. Yeah. So are you willing to use that pot of money to subsid ize a potential local butcher to come in and what does that actually look like? Yeah.

So it takes Yeah. It's gonna take a village. Yeah. Right. Where do you

think we should head to now? We've got a few budget we've we've we've got we've got ups and downs, haven't we? So I think we've got some budget cuts and we've got some business support news.

I'm gonna get the budget cut out the way.

Just do let's just do them. Let's let's just not have a

Let's there.

What's gone?

Let's focus there. There was a lot of good news, which was fantastic. Let's enjoy that. Long may it rain, long may it continue. Local government's in a dire place.

Now it's part of the reason for the local government reorganization, and especially it's felt a lot harder in higher tier authorities like Kent County Council and Medway who are responsible for social care. So everything from getting kids we've sent into school, keeping them there, getting them into work afterwards, and, of course, disabled and elderly care. A lot of people with comorbid problems, they need carers, they need help. We're building a care home to try and prevent some of those costs down the line, and the cost keeps growing and growing and growing. Because most people where they wanna go do their career in the city, where they wanna raise their kids and grow old.

So what's going? Just just

Be honest. I'll cut it. Alright. I'll cut it. Let's just do it.

Alright. I'll cut it.

Like a plaster.

Okay. But I'm gonna give some context there. It's not so bad because this grant, which is the Partners for Green Growth and the Green Audits funded, came in because of the shared prosperity money. So Sean managed to make sure he got a cut. And from that, it didn't come from the core budget.

It doesn't come the council tax. It doesn't come from your business rates. This was government money that funded it. And And then we've got a little bit of self economic partnership, which was dissolved. We got a little bit of that.

It funded a little bit more. It can no longer fund it. So without cutting from other core budget, it's like your historically ongoing ones, like your partners with growth, then this had to be cut. It's a real shame, but it still means that our core work will still go on. Yeah.

And part of that ring fence core work, least, will be the business support.

Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about that. So the business support came around a few years ago because I wanted something that wasn't just bringing in some agencies, put on a few webinars, hope for the best. I wanted someone that you could walk into one of our co work space like Ascend or Dragon and actually speak to a person who knows what they're talking about and go on from there. So there we brought in Roger Williams of intelligent linking. And within a few months, demand massively outstripped what I'd set up for.

And the way I sold it to Roger was, there won't always be someone coming in. So if you've got other work to get on with

Oh, I love it.

So, like I said, it was a pilot one for that one year because I was like, let's just see if I need to increase this or change it one year. And I said to Roger, do you mind if I just up your hours? And he went, how much? And he went, 50%, which is the maximum I could legally do within the procurement rules. So I came to the next year, and I was like, okay, we're gonna have to up this.

So we did massively up it. So the budget more than tripled. Gosh. And Roger had to bring in extras like Claire and Tim and Desiree and Terry and etcetera to make it work. However, a year later, demand has outstripped supply and continues to.

We've stopped advertising it because, basically, we've got such a wonderful business community here, people like yourselves, who spread the word because

We prefer.

Let's face it, if the council says they're putting off free anything, you're gonna be then you actually try it out and you go, oh, actually, that's not complete rubbish. So you tell your business friends. So now, we're in the position where too many people are trying to come through the door, that we've had to reallocate it. So there's gonna be a partial one to one, a partial triage to one to Millie, and a partial triage to what else is available.

Okay.

So if you're more that pre start, I've got an idea for alright. Well, here's the growth hub. Here's the government website. Here's There is And we're gonna

There is support with the Growth Hub.

Yes. We're gonna put together a lot of resources as well online that are from the team Yeah. To actually get you to that next stage.

Just because it's there.

So so you don't actually have to sit down in front of somebody before you can actually start to access resources. So how new business in Midway existing business in Midway wants to tap into this. How do they do it, and what can they get?

So by the middle of September, we're gonna have the whole website restructured. So at the moment, there's an appointment booking system where if you go on it, as we've had from the start, I can't get anything for three months. I can't get anything for so basically That's

why I'm saying nothing. I've said nothing. Not a word. Very unlike me.

You see what I'm saying about the demand issue? So this is gonna change it instead. So basically, bookings will be made from the ones triaged. And they are gonna be four of those, a hour an hour and a half long per week, only booked up to two weeks. So you're not gonna go in and say, I wanna book March 26.

No. It's invite only. So if you are on that one, it's gonna be on that one to one, it's that. But if you're on that in between stage, we're gonna have at least one to two a month workshops. They're gonna cover different things.

So basically, everything startup, everything tax and finance, everything going from concept to cash, everything that gets growth, legal, IP, etcetera. We're gonna bring in expertise from the outside. They're gonna do it pro bono. But it's with the caveat that get them while they're young. Okay.

Yeah. With the early business, they'll come back to you because

So you don't have a URL or a link for that now. Not that That will be on the way. So what we can do basically, because we're gonna get you back. You should know that, don't you? Is we can get that information.

We can put it onto the South East Business Show website. Yep. We can put it into the Stepping Out magazine. We can basically get it out there so that people can access it on the understanding that it is very well subscribed. So you may need to be patient, and you have to accept what's there.

To the point though, to accept that we are trying to future fit it. Yeah. I said, they started off the pilot that I had to expand, and I had to expand again and still Good example. We've not. And it's just this new model.

Isn't it?

It's managing it. But this new model, we're quite confident Yeah. Will then not gatekeep, but will make sure that everyone gets the support they need at the stage they're at.

And and and it it becomes fair as opposed to, you know, I think some people or or the potential I'm not saying people did this, but the potential to be booking in one one to ones over and over and over again. You're you're manic. Because people will just take sometimes. Right? Not everybody, but some people.

This this was the solution to becoming prescriptive because, again, this the the archetype model is the funding that came from the EU, which was always based around, was this one hour of support? Was it three hours, four hours Yeah. Ten hours, nine hours, or twelve? And that was it. There was nothing beyond twelve.

You were gone. Whereas this, at least, it was meant to be a sort of policy. Okay. You come back in six months when you got blah blah blah, where some people, every week, they'd want want want. Yeah.

And then but this it makes it fair without being that prescriptive because I said, if there is that unicorn, that midway business is gonna become worth billions of pounds, I'm happy for them to go over the twelve hours. But this at least, if it spreads out, so if it's like a one day workshop where you can have thirty, forty people in the room.

Yeah.

And as you know, going to these meetings and realizing you're not the only one having the same struggle. Yeah. It's getting that connection.

That's that's what so much of it is about, isn't it? You know, about understanding that, you know, a lot of people go through this. Failure isn't necessarily failure. It's a hiccup. It's something went wrong.

Yeah. That does not mean you have pack your bags and leave. Now listen, we're coming to the point where we need to round this up. Yep. So I think Adelle, have some choice questions, don't you?

Yeah. For Sean?

I I I I

think He's looking far too comfortable. I know.

I'm not. I know. Was just

being reflecting and I gosh when was the last time he was on, three months ago? Was it about three months ago?

I feel like I should know.

I feel like it was still cold at the time.

Yeah it was, it was about three And months I think for me, change. I think for me even in the short three months, the three months we were talking about and then all of a sudden we're back and we're like the, you know, we've got a new prime minister, we've got a budget coming up in October, you know, we know that the Thames Gateway Link is moving forward, we've got the unitaries coming on and you're like actually change now. And we, you know, we may not always agree with what's there. But I think for me, if you go, well I don't agree with it, I'm gonna put my head in the sand and go that way. I think we've all got to accept the uncomfortableness of change.

I think, Sian, I think what would you say to our small business owners at the moment in terms of how you lead through that level of change really and what's coming up? Because it's only sitting here now and I'm bragging, there's a lot changed and I think that speed of change is only going to increase. It

is going to increase to the point where if you point out the changes that I've spoken about today, there are things I can't talk about. Commercially sensitive announcements that are coming for Medway, and it's all brilliant.

Yeah.

Honestly, I was reflecting on this last week with a colleague of mine and just saying about I joined Medway just shy of five years ago. Wow. Honestly, just the amount that has come forward, the growth that Medways have outstrips anything else. This is the most entrepreneurial place, third in the South East, that 65 authorities, way above anything in Kent. If if five years ago, we're using the business capital of Kent as a tagline for Maidstone, Gonna piss off me, old colleague.

I swear. They shouldn't be using it anymore. Basically, it's because the entrepreneurial here, the growth, the recovery, the the g even GVA five years ago, 5,900,000,000 up to 7.6. That's a huge that doesn't sound when I say 5, that's huge in billions over just five years. That is a huge amount.

Like, Medway is flying ahead. Yeah. The Lower Thames Crossing. I make jokes about this on, like, internal boards because, like, people talk about, oh, yeah, the road map with that. Okay.

Our business is here. Our front and center of the contract. People are, oh, yeah. But, you know, you it's it's a lot of the work is going up to, you know, the other side of the river, know, Dartford and Graves and the closer. No.

The Medway businesses. Look at Thamesport. When I started, they still had about 80 acres empty. Therefore, they need more room. Their business is there.

Yeah. They have been building things for the Elizabeth line, etcetera, that are going in that tunnel. There should be stuff coming soon Yeah. That I can't talk about on two other three other major employment sites.

Yeah.

And I honestly think, give it another five years, and Medway is once again gonna be transformed. Not unrecognizable. It's still gonna be who it is. I think his identity is gonna take a hit as North Kent.

Yeah.

But I think as part of the greater Yeah. That area is gonna be such an opportunity. And I think especially when it comes to that leadership and change management. Because I'm gonna make a joke. I probably shouldn't.

But about my chief exec Mhmm. Because when he was I think in his twenties, he was part of Medway becoming independent from KCC as a young project manager. And eventually, a few years ago, he became chief executive. At the same time, this new labor administration came in. And you got the announcement that unitaries are gonna become bigger.

And I think not to say that med waste is gonna take over, but we've got the experience of being what a unitary is.

Yeah.

And I I know this coming from a district. Yeah. The the powers are different. Yeah.

Very it's very different.

And it's it's a mindset change as well that Yeah. You know, I've got colleagues in Dover and that, and, you know, you're joking about like, okay, so what would if we had a mayor, what would they continue to do? What would we do as a unitary? And they were like, oh, well, you know, the unitary, the whole thing, Kent would still, know, take on the big monies and people. And I go, why?

Oh, yeah. Because they've always done it. And I

go, so? No.

I said, okay. Yeah. But okay. Take adult education and skills, for example. Oh, Well, Casey's here to deal with that.

We've got a great one internally. Plus, you've got a fantastic team. They're so engaged with employers. Adult education makes a profit. Something in the council makes a profit.

Alert. Alert. Yeah. It's stuff like that. It's a

Must be must be an error somewhere.

But you

had all that user experience to run with yeah.

And that's, I think, for the cold country. Yeah. The colleagues in this, and that I say, especially my colleagues around Kent who care and they wanna care about businesses. They've never known the ambition they could have to actually do this change. And I think that on my level, gonna be a different one because that's what I'm trying to say to them that, The people at KCC, they do have bigger funds.

There's a £600,000 loan you go, I don't have that. I don't can ask. I don't have it. So it's a different mentality, but, you know, you don't know as you know Sue? Name three name three of her colleagues.

I I Good try. I am. I So yeah.

But on that local

list So just to put that into context, that's Sue Birdo who manages the Kent and Midway Growth Yep. And various other sort of large funding things. I can't the words have lost me. So so basically, I think what we're saying is there's some there's potentially some really exciting stuff coming. There's some exciting stuff happening now.

I think very often as very very small businesses, we we stay, I say, but we stay in our little area, you know, I think about radio shows and that sort of thing, and perhaps what I should be thinking about is the Thames Crossing, these larger things, what's happening out on the Isle Of Grain, and actually just just putting my head up every now and then, and just having a look at what else is going on. Because this is an area of growth, and this is an area, you know, this is a place, let's just call it a place, where we have the capacity to grow and to do more than we're doing at the moment. It's we're we're looking forwards. So and I think Sian, you know, by having you this is the idea anyway, having you here regularly, we can start to put some of that out there so that people really not just know potentially what's happening, but how they can connect and communicate and become involved with it, matter how big or small they are. Adelle, you got anything else?

No. The change element for me, I just think as the conversation built, it was like, in my head was like, we're sitting here and how much has changed? So when we sit back in three months, what has changed? And I think if we can continue that theme, I think it'd be amazing.

Right, so I'm gonna say thank you to Sian. Thank you Sian Henry, Economic Development Manager for Medway, a regular, a returner keeping us up to date with everything that's happening in Medway, but also now really in a much larger part of the South East. Thank you so much, Sian. Also to my co host, Adelle Martin, who is also the Executive Resilience Coach, helping businesses Stay resilient. Stay resilient.

Keep keep going. I'm Sian Murphy. I have no idea what I do. I just I bring all of this together. You know, this has been the August edition of the South East Business Show.

We will be back in September with more news for businesses across the South East.