A DOZEN Hampshire firms pledged to invest more in the communities they work in at an event for suppliers for the county’s 9,000km road network.

Staff from 12 companies joined forces with Amey, which provides highways services for Hampshire County Council, at the Hampshire Supplier Academy.

All the firms work with Amey as part of its supply chain.

The event included presentations about Amey’s community programme, which has pledged to deliver 200 days of community action in Hampshire during 2014.

There was also a presentation from the cash-strapped Rainbow Centre in Fareham, which supports children with cerebral palsy and relies on the support of businesses.

David Ogden, Amey’s account director in Hampshire, said: “Many of the companies that attended already do ad hoc community activities, but without structure or planning, the value gets lost.

“We wanted to demonstrate the tangible business benefits of planned community engagement, and see if there were ways we could work together to do more for communities and organisations that really need a helping hand in Hampshire. By the end of the event we had lots of ideas of how we could do more together, and are already working to put some of these into action.”