Engineers, maintenance personnel, managers and procurement executives with responsibility for obtaining and operating equipment for handling of biomass are set to benefit from a new course in February. From 21 – 25 February 2022 the University of Greenwich will help delegates identify and resolve common problems when handling the various biomass materials. Run over 5 sessions from 14.00 until 17:00 each day, the Biomass Operations and Handling Technology course will cover the basics of:

• Biomass macro-economics, subsidies and potential;
• Material types, flow properties and handling equipment requirements;
• Self-heating, fire, explosion and safety;
• Dust and degradation, pneumatic conveying and wear;

as well as give an insight into

• Explosion protection and ATEX regulations;
• Engineering of equipment for storage and discharge;
• Ship unloading;
• Dust control and management;
• Possible future trends in biomass

This course has an emphasis on practical aspects of technology to give a comprehensive introduction to materials handling before moving on to the more detailed aspects. The course will be delivered online via MS Teams and is led by Mike Bradley, Professor of Bulk and Particulate Technologies and Director of The Wolfson Centre. He has worked internationally on design and troubleshooting of bulk solids handling as a commercial consultant and research expert for over twenty years. Also contributing will be Richard Farnish, Consultant Engineer, with over twenty years’ experience in commercial design work related to materials handling, and Dr Baldeep Kaur, a Researcher expert in the transportation of materials in the bulk solids handling industry. The course is £775 per delegate, though discounts are available for group bookings and returning delegates. Registration and payment is available via the on-line shop. This course can also be delivered as an In-Company course over one or two days. For more information click here.

With £4.8 billion being invested into the UK’s high value local infrastructure, the LUF aims to support investment in places where it can make the biggest difference to everyday life, and support local areas in selecting genuine local priorities. The £20 million investment will go toward completing the SLR, which will form the missing link of Newark’s outer loop road by connecting the A46 at Farndon to the A1 at Balderton. The site master developer, Urban&Civic (U&C) has already commenced the first phase of the development. This funding will allow the remaining delivery of Middlebeck, one of the Strategic Urban Extension (SUE) sites around Newark. Councillor David Lloyd, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Our bid was built on solid proposals that will support our vision for Newark’s future, improving both transport and the growth of our district.” The first stages of the development of the SLR are complete and have already provided 600 homes, a brand new primary school and open space in the community. This investment will unlock a further 2,651 homes, two-million square foot of employment space, local centres, a care home, a new country park, and new sports and recreation facilities including pedestrian and cycleways. Urban&Civic, NSDC, and NCC are now working at pace to ensure that works can start as soon as possible. It is hoped that a contract will be let to build all of the remaining SLR next year, with the road being open no later than Spring 2023. Mike van den Berg, senior development manager at Urban&Civic, added: “We are delighted that our work with NSDC and NCC to secure the funding has been successful. The SLR is a vital piece of infrastructure to support local economic growth, jobs and provide more homes. Our new community will also be thrilled with the news with many of them choosing to buy a home at Middlebeck to benefit from both its access to green spaces and the connectivity offered through the SLR.” Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Ben Bradley MP, said that £20m investment into the Newark and Sherwood district was “a massive boost for the economy in that area” and he welcomed the funding for completion of the Southern Link Road. Councillor Bradley said: “This investment will regenerate the Newark and Sherwood area and I welcome it wholeheartedly, as will most residents who see the SLR as a vital connecting link between the A46 and A1. “Improving the infrastructure of an area is vital to boost economic growth and I look forward to the road opening in early 2023.” Councillor Bradley added that the Levelling Up Fund would help to regenerate areas by creating new jobs and improving skills, which ultimately leads to a higher paid, better skilled workforce.

In its latest Business Support Update, Streets Chartered Accountants dives into the tax rules of staff gifts and Christmas celebrations and the Self-Assessment deadline. Staff Gifts and Christmas Celebrations – What are the Tax rules? As we approach the festive season, many businesses will be considering how they thank their staff and what are the tax consequences of doing so. There are a whole host of tax rules employers need to be aware of when providing employees with the use of assets, making gifts and settling payments on their behalf. The relevant tax rules determine if there is tax payable, by whom, on what value and at what rate. Podcast: What will you be giving your staff this Christmas and will it be tax free? In this session, Tax Partner Jennie Brown focuses on the tax implications of Christmas gifts for employees. In conversation, she considers what gifts are allowable and provides guidance on avoiding the pitfalls from an employer’s perspective. Help is at hand when it comes to paying your tax With the Self-Assessment deadline of the 31st January getting closer, thoughts will no doubt turn to the tax payment due. The last 18 months have been extraordinary, even unprecedented, with many seeing changes to their income and potentially making it challenging to provide for their pending tax bill. Payroll support over the festive season Streets Chartered Accountants’ offices will close for Christmas and the New Year at 12 noon on Friday 24th December and will re-open at 8.30am on Tuesday 4th January 2021. However, the Payroll team will be available on Wednesday 29th December, Thursday 30th December and Friday 31st December between the hours of 8am and 4.30pm. The team can be contacted on 01522 551230 or 0345 099 7299. Alternatively, you can email payroll@streetsweb.co.uk

A new study has calculated the long-term economic impact of Covid-19 on city centres and found that as the shift towards working from home moves businesses to suburban areas, city centres stand to lose £3 billion in 2022. Economists from the University of Nottingham, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Birmingham, assessed how often people will be working from home in the next year compared to before the pandemic, and what effect that will have on the revenue generated by city centres. Their research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is published in a paper titled “Covid reallocation of spending: The effect of remote working on the retail and hospitality sector”. The study uses data from a new Working From Home Survey developed by Professor Paul Mizen, Professor Gianni De Fraja, Gregory Thwaites and Shivani Taneja at the University of Nottingham, with the University of Chicago and Stanford University. The academics found that on average, people will be working roughly one day a week more at home than they were before the pandemic, which could have huge long-term consequences for the hospitality and retail industries, which have already faced a tumultuous 18 months. It is expected that the extra day of working from home will be a permanent shift as a result of the pandemic, which has seen everyone’s lives change dramatically since the first national lockdown in March 2021. As people spend more time in suburban areas due to working from home, they will not be providing the economic benefits to city centres that office workers previously would, such as going to coffee shops, buying lunch, or going shopping after work. These shifts could see roughly 77,000 people who work in the hospitality and retail industries be forced to either relocate to jobs in suburbs or lose their jobs completely. Not only could these changes lead to tens of thousands of low income workers losing their jobs, but it could make inequalities between rich and poor areas even worse – the study found that, as people who are more affluent are more likely to be able to work from home, the money being lost by city centre shops is more likely to be recuperated in higher income suburbs. Paul Mizen, Professor of Monetary Economics at the University of Nottingham said: “Using a new Working From Home survey developed at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the University of Chicago and Stanford University, our team from Nottingham, Birmingham and Sheffield universities has tracked changes in commuting patterns and working from home trends during the last year to show that about £3 billion in annual spending could leave city centres as a result of working from home. “This illustrates how retail and hospitality sectors will be affected by shifts in work location as a result of a longer term structural change, particularly in larger cities dependent on commuting trade.” The Nottingham academics have also been tracking the opinions of business through the Decision Maker Panel, set up with the Bank of England and Stanford University, providing direct insight into business expectations and uncertainty, for example Covid-19 and Brexit. The panel draws information from Financial Officers in 3,000 UK companies operating in a broad range of industries and is designed to be representative of the population of UK businesses. Shivani Taneja, co-author and Research Fellow in the School of Economics at the University of Nottingham said: “Attitudes towards working from home have changed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic1 . Employees are now travelling less frequently to the offices in the city centres and more time is spent in suburban locations, resulting in major implications for city centres. “Our results suggest that the hospitality and retail sector will be significantly affected, with about 77,000 workers potentially losing their jobs.” Dr Jesse Matheson, co-author from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Economics, said: “We estimate that about £3 billion in annual spending will leave city centres as a result of working from home. This decrease will be concentrated in a few very dense centres; for example, the City of London will experience a spending decrease of 31.6 per cent, and central Birmingham will experience a decrease of 8 per cent. “Some of this spending will be realised in the residential areas where these workers live, but some may be lost altogether. As suburban neighbourhoods lack the density of city centres, many retail and hospitality businesses will find it is not profitable to relocate. “Workers in retail and hospitality may also find that demand has shifted to locations to which commuting is too difficult, which means that supply may not be able to keep up with demand.” As a result of this shift to working from home – or the effect of ‘zoomshock’ as the academics coined the phenomena – the report argues that city centres may have to transform themselves in order to stay relevant, by becoming more residential instead of retail focused. The research follows a previous study by Dr Matheson which found that how quickly households or businesses recover from the economic impact of Covid-19 depends on where you live and what you do, as wealthier areas will be quicker to recover. Dr Matheson says there is work to do in finding out if all of the lost £3 billion will be spent elsewhere or lost altogether. He said: “This money may be recuperated in the higher income suburbs, but in a lot of places working from home means people are more spread out, which isn’t good business for retail business like coffee shops, who require high density areas for business. So there is a risk this revenue could be lost from the hospitality and retail sectors forever.”

Greg Simpson, founder of Press for Attention PR and the PR and Communications Ambassador for the IoD in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, details why your charitable press releases are being ignored. In the spirit of giving, I wanted to share something that will hopefully make a big difference to your business next year but ONLY if you are looking to make a big difference to someone else’s. Sound fair? We live in an age of Greenwashing, Sportswashing and frankly, a huge degree of cynicism. We also live in a time where huge numbers of people are struggling and charitable donations are at critical levels. So what are forward-thinking businesses to do? Well, do something for a start! However…don’t do just anything! Remember, it doesn’t have to be monetary. Businesses are increasingly realising that Corporate Social Responsibility, or ‘CSR’ for short, can be a major asset when it comes to positioning positive public relations for their brand. There are various elements they can weave into their marketing mix around sustainability and ethical practice but the classic tactic that is normally the easiest to implement centres around supporting a charity. It is laudable and often a cause close to the heart of the business owner or the wider team and can make a major impact, especially on smaller local charities. However, people often ask me why their efforts are ‘ignored’ by the media. Let me explain why this might happen. I represent two charities and a non-profit. In order to get their message out I do something that may sound somewhat counter-intuitive…I don’t talk about them. Actually, let me be more precise here, I don’t FOCUS on them as the story. It is a tactic I use for many of my professional services clients too. The story is rarely about them, it is about who they are advising. Consider this with a charity. The story is not about the charity, it is about who they are helping. You need to find the human element in your story. Or indeed the animal but you get my drift. You are Spielberg NOT Cruise – tell the story Far too many charity angles begin with ‘Acme Corp, which is committed to XYZ causes and sustainable business jargon has raised some funds for Laudable Cause’. This is well-intentioned BUT it is focusing on the ‘good egg’ factor too much. Instead, it should be ‘Laudable Cause receives funding boost thanks to Acme Corp’. Spot the difference? We normally hear all about Acme Corp but very little about Laudable Cause. This is where it all falls down. The story needs to focus on the beneficiaries and how their life changes, not tick marketing messages and CSR boxes. I cannot possibly go into each and every case here but here’s some more hints and tips as to why your charitable efforts may not be making headlines.

1. The cause is not local and you are pitching to local media
2. The story is too focused on you
3. The picture/photo you offered up is utterly uninspiring
4. The amount raised is nothing to really write home about, however hard you all worked
5. You haven’t explained what difference it will make
6. The charity isn’t quoted or in the photo
7. The same cause was in the press last week from your rival, ACME Inc

We are nearing the end of the year and thoughts are turning to plans for 2022. If I came into your business right now, one of the first questions I would ask is what good causes you support. I do not do this to try and curry favour in the media. I do it because it starts out as an internal marketing campaign, a way to create and foster a positive culture. So if you aren’t doing something already, have a think about what you could be doing or better still, ask your team. Someone will be hugely keen to support something and will most likely want to take the lead and run the project for you. Your job is to give them the tools and resources to help them help others.   A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press for Attention PR in 2008. He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.