BUSINESSES in Southampton are being pledged support through the “once in a lifetime” challenges facing them in the coming months.

Southampton Chamber of Commerce also wants to make sure local businesses get their share of opportunities such as the Solent Freeport projects.

Laura Bielinski, chair of the chamber, said: “Never in our lifetime have we faced business challenges like this. We’ve been through a pandemic and now entering a recession.”

She urged more people to join the chamber and help add weight to its messages to decision-makers.

“If you’re not a member or not engaged with us, we’re here to support you and we’re here to be your voice,” she said.

“We might not always be able to fix things but we can look to point you in the right direction and that collective voice is much more powerful when we’re facing new challenges.”

The chamber has set up four task groups to support businesses.

The task groups are:

  • Sustainability and efficiency, led by Gareth Miller of Carswell Gould and James Batchelor of TW Metals;
  • People – including skills, retention, wellbeing and apprenticeships – led by Paul Cox, chief executive and principal of Eastleigh College
  • Procurement and growth, led by Graeme Barnetson of Red Funnel and Peter Taylor of Paris Smith Solicitors; and
  • Special projects, led by Gary Whittle of Meachers Global Logistics and Lakbir Singh of UK Elite Sports.

Nella Pang of Omega RE and Richard Milner of PwC are leading the chamber's efforts on membership and engagement.

The initiative comes at a time when businesses are under pressure from soaring costs and a severe shortage of labour, with the Bank of England predicting that a recession will last more than a year from the last quarter of 2022.

It also coincides with new opportunities for the city, with the Solent Freeport project aiming to bring in more than £2billion in investment.

Laura Bielinski said it was important that local businesses get as big a share as possible of the benefits from initiatives such as the freeport and the Solent 2050 economic strategy.

“We’ve got to make sure that we attract and retain as much of that opportunity as possible within the region’s boundaries,” she said.