State of the City 2009

Our recent State of the City event attracted over a hundred people to the Sallis Benney Theatre on the 23rd of June. Thanks to another high calibre panel, chairing flair by Roger French, and a lively and engaged audience, it was once again a thought-provoking evening.

We began with a presentation from Tony Mernagh which told us how things are with our city currently, and we discovered that Brighton & Hove is faring well against national statistics of retail sales, vacancy rates and footfall.

Our panelists were:

Chris Baker, head of economic and social engagement, University of Brighton
Gilly Bartrip, area director for Sussex, SEEDA
Phil Jones, managing director, Wired Sussex
Scott Marshall, director of culture and enterprise, Brighton & Hove City Council
Tony Mernagh, chief executive, Brighton & Hove Business Forum
Julie Stanford, president, Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce
Chief Inspector Lawrence Taylor, Neighbourhood Policing Teams Brighton & Hove Division, Sussex Police

Many of the key issues affecting businesses in the city were touched upon. Some of these hot topics included regeneration and development within the city, the effect of the night-time economy on businesses, and how the city plans to bring larger companies and more jobs into the area.

There was interesting coverage of the event in the business section of The Argus on Tuesday 30th June. Don't worry if you missed it, you can read it on their website.

There are also plenty of photos from the event. Take a look at our gallery under the events pages on this website.

Thanks again to everyone who made the evening such a success. We hope you will join us again next year.