Waverley Business Forum
Waverley Business Forum |
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Waverley today is home to more than 5,200 businesses - only one other Borough in Surrey has more.* The result is that Waverley has 46 businesses per 1,000 population, compared to the national average of just 28 - clearly the place to do business!
Much of this is due to the success of micro-businesses (those employing 10 employees or less), which account for nearly 89% of the Borough's total - against a national average of just under 84% - putting Waverley in the Top 30 locations for micro-businesses nationwide.**
SMEs - small and medium-sized companies, employing 11-199 staff - total around 11% of Waverley businesses and account for 50% of employees across the Borough**. Large organisations (with 200+ staff) represent less than 1% of Waverley businesses, yet these key employers include such major national and international names as British Car Auctions, Cranleigh Frieght, Diagonal Computers, Dzus Fasteners, Federal Mogul, Libra Health, IMI Norgen Ltd, Smith + Nephew Homecraft, Triad Group, Winzur Wurth and WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature).
Waverley clearly plays a major role in the development of Surrey's economy, which is projected to grow by 41%, to £23.4 billion, by 2010. Sectors forecast to achieve especially strong growth include architecture and engineering (+332%), legal and accounting (+226%) and computers and entertainment (both +175%)*.
What is more, businesses setting up locally tend to be survivors: latest statistics show that 64% are still in business after 3 years - some 3% above the national average, putting Surrey and Waverley in the Top 25 areas in the country.
* Office for National Statistics Interdepartmental Business Register 2001
** Local Futures Group, 2001
A total of 53,000 Waverley residents are 'economically active', with 33,500 employed full-time, 10,500 part-time and 9,000 self-employed (reflecting the high proportion of micro-businesses in the Borough). of these, nearly half (24,500) travel outside the area to work - Waverley is for example a key commuter area for the City and Outer London - counterbalanced to some degree by the fact that some 14,000 travel into the area for their employment (NOMIS, August 2001).
Reflecting the imprtance os service businesses to Waverley's economy, key employment sectors include: banking, finance and insurance (29% of the workforce); distribution;hotels and restaurants (26%); public administration, education and health (23%); and manufacturing (11%).
Shops and restaurants in particular play a major role, with retail accounting for one third of the Borough's total available commercial and industrail floorspace - reflecting the large number of high quality independent retail outlets in the four towns.
Office space counts for a further 22% and industrial 45%.
Tourism is also an important sector - providing more than 2,600 jobs and worth some £96.5 million to the local economy (The Economic Impact of Tourism 1999, South East England Tourism Board, May 2001) - as is farming, with agriculure and woodland management accounting for 76% of land use throughout the Borough.
Historically, unemployment in Waverley has remained low, currently running at 0.7% (compared to 1.5% regionally and a national average of 3.2%) (NOMIS, August 2001).
Recruitment
One result of the low level of unemployment is the reduced number of immediately available employees from within the Borough, though good road links mean that staff are prepared to travel from further afield.
Businesses have also reported recruitment difficulties because of the realtively high cost of home ownership and the small and expensive private rented sector. As a result, Waverly Business Forum has been working with the Borugh Council in identifying and addressing issues around affordable housing and will continue to do so.
Training and development
In an area of low unemployment, a 1999 survey highlighted the particualr importance which Waverley businesses place on re-skilling as an aid to staff retention (Surrey Employers Survey, 1999). To meet this need, thare are a broad range of training services and facilities avilable in the Borough and the Surrey Learning and Skills Council is "championing the power of learning" for all post-school education, including work-based learning and workforce development.
Waverley Training Services provides young people with opportunities to act ina trainee capacity with local businesses training for staff aged 16-18 up to NVQ level 2 in a range of skills, including customer care and ICT.
Godalming College runs successful tailored work-based business training including the European Social Fund-supported BEST project.
Waverley Business Forum also runs a programme of monthly Breakfast Briefings on key commercial issues as idetified by local businesses. These have proved valuable both in terms of providing helpful information and networking.
Conference Facilities
Waverley has a wide variety of meeting and conference venues to suit all business needs. these range from dedicated business conference suites to hotels, pubs and village halls, catering for small boardroom-style meetings to conferences of up to 450 people.
For a copy of the South West Surrey Venue Guide (for business and private functions), please contact 01483 523218 or 01483 523088.
Situated in the south west corner of Surrey, the Borough of Waverley has a population of 115,400 (Office for National Statistics 2001, mid-year estimate 1998). There are four main towns which together account for 70% of the total: Cranleigh (12,000), Farnham (36,000), Godalming (20,000) and Haslemere (15,000). The remaining 30% is made up of 16 parishes including 20 villages.
Waverley has a higher proportion of elderly than both the county and national average, with 12% over retirement age.
Housing, health and employment
There are 48,000 dweelings in Waverley, with over 80% owner-occupied. There is a stronmg demand for housing of all types throughout the Borough, with prices more than double the national average (£217,009 compared to £102,651 in 2001), (Local Futures Group, 2001).
The popualtion enjoys a relatively good level of health, with higher than everage life excpectancy than in England as a whole (NHS: Compendium of Clinical health Indicators, July 2000).
A high proportion of those employed (56%) are in professional or mangerial positions, with 11% in unskilled or semi-skilled occupations.
Education
Waverley has a high standard of eduaction provision. In the state sector, there are Beacon Schools at Infant, primary and Secondary levels; there are also two sixth form colleges - Farnham College and Godalming College (one of only two colleges in the country to win the Queen's Anniversary Prize for its innovative scientific research). In the private sector too there are many well-known and highly regarded schools including Charterhouse, Cranleigh School and St. Catherine's School.
The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College in Farnham is one of Europe's largest colleges specialising in art, design, media and communication, with over 3,000 students.
Leisure
The Borough of Waverley, covering an area of 133 sq miles, is predominantly rural in character but with a blend of historic towns, attractive villages, heather-clad commons, dense woodlands and the rolling hills of the North Downs.
Much of the landscape is designated as Green Belt or as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and almost one third of the Borough is wooded. Extensive areas of heathland are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and, with over 5,000 acres of heathland common accessible to the public, there are tremendous opportunities for organised leisure sctivities and informal recreation.
In addition to high quality sporting, cultural and other leisure activities available within the four main towns, the area reflects and exceptionally rich heritage with over 1,600 listed buildings. (Farnham alone has 581 - including a 12th century Norman castle - putting it in the top twenty towns in England.) Much of the landscape too is of historic interest, with Frensham Common and Farnham Park being particularly important.
