Gateway to London Business Survey 2008

Businesses Have Their Say on London Thames Gateway

As the inward investment and business retention agency for London Thames Gateway, listening to the views and opinions of all types of companies and industries is vital to our work, and a means of ensuring that we offer the best possible business support service as well as accurately representing the region's business views and interests to Government and policy makers.

In early 2007 Gateway to London surveyed businesses across London Thames Gateway to gather views on the key issues in the region and the priorities for developing its potential as an unrivalled location for businesses.

Gateway to London was delighted with the responses which produced a number of central themes, most notably that transport was vital to many companies' continuing growth and a long-term investment programme was needed, with the delivery of major projects such as the Thames Gateway Bridge. The responses also showed that over 50 per cent of businesses surveyed have their roots in London Thames Gateway, having started up here and grown with the help of the region's many opportunities. This demonstrates the strength and stability of local businesses, as well as the vital investment that they are continuing to make to the local economy by employing generations of workers.

The survey then asked a series of opinion based questions, designed to gather valuable information about what companies in the region see as the benefits of being here, and what will be needed in the future to secure business growth. We were delighted that nearly three quarters of companies who responded said they were satisfied with their location and that just under half, the top answer, said that they thought the region was getting better.

This year's survey was issued last week, employing the expertise of survey heavyweight YouGov, we anticipate it will uncover some interesting changes in perception and an invaluable insight into the views of the local business community.

As a way of saying thank you to businesses all replies will be entered into a draw. We will pick three winners and donate £75 to a charity of their choice.

The results of the survey will be published in May so we anticipate including details of the most interesting findings in future updates.