Board Insights

For many years a large number of our manufacturing and retail businesses have been able to rely upon sourcing raw materials from local, regional and international providers. In many cases this has involved production facilities in China, India and the Far…

We are experiencing another clutch of increasing household and business costs, which all kick in from the beginning of April (Council Tax for an average Band D property will increase by 5% to £2,171. Average household and business water and sewage…

On a daily basis we read bad news stories about our carbon emissions and how far behind target we are in achieving a Net Zero result. 2050 is the date we all recognise but many would expect or wish this to…

A critical element of the national education programme, is ensuring that all of our valued workers have suitable skills to match the requirements of businesses and fulfil a meaningful career. Without this, many of the successful businesses across Northern Devon would…

The agricultural industry is one of the most important sectors of the Northern Devon economy. Whilst it is not the biggest generator of economic activity, it is a fact that a successful farming industry is critical to almost every aspect of…

It is difficult to draw any other conclusion than that the general state of the nation’s economy is at best subdued and possibly hovering on the brink of a recession.  The barrage of generally bad news seems never ending.  The Bank…

We are all aware of the rapid advances in technology, including the spectacular speed in progressing artificial intelligence. Some scientists are predicting that it will be less than 5 years before we take it for granted that a significant amount of…

The latest figures nationally and regionally paint a bleak picture of what is happening in our High Streets. Many within the industry say that High Streets are becoming deserts. There are multiple reasons for this. It is important to remember that…