Exciting News! Welcome to RURAL FOCUS; the service replacing Business Link’s Rural Service across the South West.

We are delighted to announce the service, delivered by Peninsula Enterprise, has just completed a major rebrand.

RURAL FOCUS provides easy access to the advice; support and funding that today’s rural, agricultural and land based businesses need to succeed.

The service gives rural businesses access to;

• A team of Rural Advisers
• Specialist advice for rural business in the South West
• Access to support and funding through the Rural Development programme for England (RDPE)
• A programme of events on a range of business support topics
• Tailored resource efficiency advice for farmers (R4F)

To ensure you remain up to date with the latest support available for rural businesses sign up to Rural Focus News by calling us on 08456 047 047 and providing your email address. Alternatively email us at enquiries@ruralfocus.info.

For more information visit www.ruralfocus.info.

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills have issued their seventh newsletter about the changes to the way the Government provides support to people who want to start and grow a business. Read the newsletter online here.

Change on the horizon for Business Link

The way the Business Link service helps businesses is changing. We want to ensure that you are fully aware of, and understand the changes that are planned.

On 25th November 2011, the regional Business Link enquiry and advisory service will cease. It will be replaced by a range of business support including:

• an improved Business Link national website with essential information, support and services for businesses www.businesslink.gov.uk
• a new addition on this site from November 2011 is a ‘growth and improvement’ service full of information businesses need to work better and achieve growth objectives
• for start up businesses from November 2011, the Business Link website will have a new area called ‘My New Business’ providing tailored information and training to guide people through the process
• a search service for public sector procurement opportunities www.businesslink.gov.uk/contractsfinder
• a national mentoring network www.mentorsme.co.uk that puts businesses in touch with mentoring organisations across the UK
• From 31st October 2011, a new national Business Link telephone helpline will be available. This replaces the existing regional telephone helpline and will support people in navigating the Business Link website.

These changes will ensure that businesses are provided with information and links to the national, regional and local business support. From the end of November 2011, the current regional enquiry and advisory service will cease. You can find more information about these changes on the BIS website and can sign up for regular e-alerts and updates www.bis.gov.uk

Peninsula Enterprise has delivered the regional Business Link enquiry and advisory service and is proud of the quality and impact of this service across the three counties. Details of how our activities have helped businesses and positively impacted on the local economy can be found here.
 
We will continue to deliver critical business support services In Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon and Somerset. These include the following list – all of which are currently unaffected by the changes:

• UKTI (UK Trade & Investment) & Export Cornwall
• Rural Advisory Service
• Improve Your Resource Efficiency Environmental Service (Devon and Somerset)
• Social Enterprise Support Service

This is an important time for South West businesses. Peninsula Enterprise, which delivers these services, remains committed to working with all businesses and partners to strengthen business support and therefore the local and regional economy.

Peninsula Enterprise delivers Business Link’s Improve Your Resource Efficiency (IYRE) service across the south west.  Below you can read a case study featuring the successful story of Atlas Packaging who received support which led to significant resource efficiency savings and cutting their carbon footprint:

A series of major initiatives to boost sustainability is underway at one of North Devon’s largest and most progressive ‘home-grown’ employers, which are helping Barnstaple-based Atlas Packaging Ltd to achieve significant resource efficiency savings and to cut its carbon footprint by nearly 125 tonnes a year.

As part of the programme, the company is set to save an astonishing £25,000-a-year in electricity alone following the installation of a new lighting system in its production facility, while a new heating system is already delivering cost-savings of around 30%.  According to Operations Director Clive Gamble, “This means we can now be sure of keeping our 96-strong workforce warm through even the harshest winter!”

Clive is very grateful to Business Link, whose ‘Improve Your Resource Efficiency’ (IYRE) service helped the company both identify the right lighting and heating systems and to secure investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to contribute to the costs of the new systems.

As he says, though, these are far from the only key investments that the company has made during a process of continuous improvement designed to keep it at the forefront of its industry through the quality of its products and the efficiency of its processes.  “Margins in this business are very tight, so we do everything we can to produce the best possible products at the lowest cost,” he says.

This has been a focus for Clive ever since joined the company five years ago at the invitation of his brother, Chairman Adrian Gamble.  Ably supported by his colleagues, he has helped to oversee a major investment programme featuring a 40,000 sq ft extension to their premises, the installation of leading-edge equipment, the introduction of lean production techniques and continuous staff training. 

Cutting costs and environmental impact through waste reduction has also always been an important focus for Clive and his colleagues.  Among other initiatives, the company recently introduced a water-treatment plant that separates out the inks used in production in an easily disposable form.  This is currently saving the company a further £30,000-a-year in waste disposal costs alone.

This programme is an extension of the company’s acknowledged focus on innovation.  In recent years, this has seen it win five Starpack awards (including a gold) which are the UK’s packaging Oscars as voted for by Atlas’s industry peers.

As Clive says, though, “In business, you cannot always do absolutely everything yourself, and we knew we were probably missing a trick with regard to heating and lighting.  That’s why we invited Business Link IYRE Adviser Sally Sandford to carry out a review of our plant, where she highlighted what we could achieve.  I’m incredibly grateful, because without the grant support that she organised for us, I doubt if we would as yet have made the changes. 

“I’m particularly pleased about the new heating system, since we couldn’t possibly ask our highly skilled people to work in low temperatures.  For a company like ours, there’s no substitute for a happy workforce!”

Sally Sandford was very impressed by what she found at Atlas Packaging.  “They deservedly have all sorts of accolades for the quality and efficiency of their processes, including the British Retail Consortium’s Global Standard for Packaging and Packing Materials, as well as the ISO 9001 quality standard,” she says.  “So I was very happy to be able to help them in such a tangible way.  Besides the cost savings, we’ve also helped them make an annual CO2 saving of 124.6 tonnes, which has given them a real boost in reducing their environmental impact.”

Anybody wishing to know more about the business support services including IYRE that Peninsula Enterprise delivers across Devon and the South West should call 0845 600 9966 or visit www.businessanswers.info.

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills have issued their sixth newsletter about the changes to the way the Government provides support to people who want to start and grow a business. Read the newsletter online here.

Peninsula Enterprise delivers Business Link’s Rural Support Services across the south west.  Below you can read a case study featuring the successful story of one of our farming clients who received support that helped them save money on power and have a more efficient business in the longer term:

“We’ve always tried to be a progressive, forward-thinking farm, and I’m keen to take advantage of any free advice that’s on offer to help us improve.  I’m glad that I did so this time, because the service we received through Business Link is clearly going to help us save money on power and have a more efficient business in the longer term.”

These are the words of Julian Ellis, who with his wife Sam and parents Bernard and Penelope, farms a total of 400 acres in the far west of Cornwall, including a 190-head Guernsey dairy herd and beef cattle as well as spring barley, cabbages and other crops.  The family farms just three miles from Land’s End at St Buryan and as well as being a busy mixed farm they also run a local contracting business

Julian decided to take advantage of the Resource Efficiency for Farmers (R4F) scheme, delivered by Peninsula Enterprise through the Business Link Rural service, that helps farmers and landowners improve their management and use of energy, water and inorganic wastes. 

Under it, a specialist consultant visits the farm and carries out a resource efficiency review that highlights practical opportunities to improve resource use and so help to increase profits through better management. Recommendations are prioritised and drawn up into an action plan for the farmer who can then decide how and when to implement the recommendations.

As Julian says, “I’m really pleased with the service we received – the main point that the consultant highlighted was how we could save power in the milking parlour by replacing two two-kilowatt motors with a modern variable-speed action pump.  He also suggested installing a heat exchange unit to use the heat extracted from cooling milk to help warm the parlour, again aimed at reducing our use of power.  And he advised that we use a rainwater storage system.”

Julian was also glad to hear that the farm was already performing well in certain areas, including the use of cheap electricity tariffs for milling and mixing its cattle-feed.  As he says, “It was encouraging to hear how well we’re doing in some areas; in fact, I think that simply having the overview of an outside expert is incredibly valuable overall, irrespective of whether or not you take every piece of advice.”

For further information about R4F and other services available to farmers and other land-based businesses that are delivered by Peninsula Enterprise, simply visit  www.businessanswers.info/rural or call 0845 600 9966.

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills have issued their fifth newsletter about the changes to the way the Government provides support to people who want to start and grow a business. Read the newsletter online here.