St Austell Bay Chamber Business Plan 2015

 

 

Executive Summary

St Austell Bay Chamber of Commerce aims to promote and support its members and in doing so also promote the local business community of St. Austell town and the surrounding areas. Essentially to promote St Austell Bay as a great place to work and do business.

 

Our Chamber is ambitious and wants to be able to deliver, as a knowledge network, real economic growth for our area.

However, as an independent membership organisation it cannot draw on public funds and must rely on private investment only. Private investment comes in the form of membership subscriptions.

Currently, the Chamber is maintained by business volunteers, but in order to be able to operate, as a robust and sustainable organisation offering stronger and more effective representative for local business in St Austell Bay, it needs to able to employ staff to ensure consistent delivery.

It is not possible to put any kind of value on its ‘market’ as the Chamber’s aim is to help to business to grow. The better more vibrant the economic landscape in the area, the more income generated for business, exponentially the Chamber membership can grow and the greater the output of its services to members can be.

 

The business plan for St Austell Bay Chamber of Commerce will demonstrate the significance of increasing membership numbers are for the Chamber’s long-term future.

 

Chamber membership currently provides open meetings, breakfast events, networking and referral opportunities and FREE promotion of members’ business, services, special offers and events on the Chamber website and through social media.

The Chamber also serves several important functions:

• Through local knowledge and experience, it providesthe authentic voice for business and is able to lobby on behalf of its members and the wider business community.
• It is also required to be the leading commentator on our local economy and hold principal information about trading within the town and the surrounding area.
• Our Chamber has a significant part to play in informing planners, politicians and major stakeholders of its recommendations on decisions that could either inhibit growth potential or those that are most likely to stimulate improvement.
• The Chamber also can comment in the area of Developers Contributions (Section 106 monies), where mitigation for potential harm is required and discussing what measures would assist in strengthening the performance of the town or particular area that is likely to be most affected.

 

St Austell Bay Chamber (SABCC)is also a member the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce (CCC) connecting us with a stronger business network for Cornwall. CCC is in turn one of the 52 accredited chambers of the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and therefore connected to a more dynamically powerful and independent business network providing practical advice and support. Accredited Chambers, by sitting at the heart of local business communities, are able to help thousands of companies – of every size and sector – to grow and thrive. SABCC aims, in turn, to be able to inform CCC of local concerns and to connect our members with much greater support networks.