Annual consultation event gives businesses a say in the development of Chesterfield.

After attending today’s Chesterfield Champions annual consultation event, the future for the small businesses of Chesterfield seems bright. Beginning with a discussion of the initial vision behind Destination Chesterfield, the Chair of the project, Peter Swallow, reiterated the importance of creating a shared narrative of the town’s potential.

In order to achieve this, the Project Manager, Dom Stevens, suggested that Chesterfield looks inwards to support indigenous business growth. He also emphasised the importance of collectively making Chesterfield an attractive place to live, work and visit.

“the future for small businesses seems bright.”

Further discussing these objectives, attendees were invited to workshop their own suggestions on how the businesses of Chesterfield can better promote the town. Groups of attendees then delivered their thoughts to the rest of the room. Overall, feedback focussed on encouraging the interest of investors, tourists and residents in Chesterfield. One such strategy proposed to achieve this was to expand the Christmas Markets and events in the town generally. By holding events such as historic tours and music festivals, it is hoped that visitors would be encouraged from further afield. Another idea was to use targeted marketing campaigns to highlight Chesterfield’s geographical advantage of being close to the picturesque Pennine Hills and Peak District National Park.

Once all feedback had been delivered, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Development Manager, Natalie Gasson-McKinley, concluded the proceedings by introducing her upcoming business report. Acknowledging that there is a gap in local skills that small business roles require, the report aims to suggest practical ways to rectify this.

One such preliminary idea to achieve this was to work with local colleges and universities to integrate the development of these specialised skills into educational programmes. Later this month, small businesses will get the opportunity to contribute their ideas at the Casa Hotel FSB event.