Tackling the problem of rough sleepers, roadworks and the decline of the city centre after the pandemic have been identified by business leaders as key issues holding Norwich back from success.

Other hurdles city bosses highlighted at an event for businesses organised by Norwich BID was hybrid working, sustainability and the need to receive more funding to support the city.

City Conversations - Next for Norwich, which took place at Carrow Road on Tuesday May 24, provided an opportunity for Norwich businesses to come together to discuss the main issues facing firms, as well as their priorities for the next five years.

Eastern Daily Press: Norwich business owners discuss the issues impacting their companies at the eventNorwich business owners discuss the issues impacting their companies at the event (Image: Norwich BID)

Impact of rough sleepers and beggars

One of Norwich BID's priorities for the coming years is to drive up visitor numbers to Norwich by improving the experiences the city offers.

Businesses have highlighted that an increase in rough sleepers and beggars is having a negative effect on the city which Stefan Gurney, executive director of Norwich BID, said that due to 'challenges of the cost of living' it anticipates 'will continue or get even more challenging over the next few years'.

The business organisation said that it aims to work with charities and the local authority to reduce the impact of begging, rough-sleeping and anti-social behaviour in Norwich.

It is also planning to develop initiatives, such as its Norwich Street Aid scheme, to tackle the issue.

Football giving Norwich a boost

Eastern Daily Press: A panel of speakers at the event (left to right) Richard Bainbridge from Restaurant Benedicts, Isabel Johnson from Norwich BID, Clare Hubery from Norwich City Council, Martin Blackwell from Norwich BID, Tessa Haskey from Howes PercivalA panel of speakers at the event (left to right) Richard Bainbridge from Restaurant Benedicts, Isabel Johnson from Norwich BID, Clare Hubery from Norwich City Council, Martin Blackwell from Norwich BID, Tessa Haskey from Howes Percival (Image: Norwich BID)

The fortunes of Norwich City FC was at the forefront of business owners minds during the event, and people were asked if the team being relegated to the Championship would have an impact on the city as a whole.

Richard Bainbridge, from city centre Restaurant Benedicts, said that it was actually 'incredibly valuable that we (the club) go up and come down'.

He said: "When you go up you're out of 20 teams in a league. So there's 19 teams that come to Norwich for their away games, that's a massive amount of people that we're tapping into.

"Then we go down a league and then that's a whole new remit of people that we can tap into.

"So we have to look at it like everything we've gone through, we've got to look at the positive in things and I think that's a massive positive that we can attract a wider range of people by going up and down."

The 'challenge' of Norwich city roadworks

Mr Gurney described the continuous roadworks as 'a challenge' for businesses, but hopes that the new infrastructure will give the city a boost.

He said: "We've worked with the city council and county council to try and mitigate as much as we can the impact on the city and we challenge all the time to make sure it is done with the least pain to the business community and the quickest time possible.

"It's a double-edged sword because we want the city to continue to grow and be able to meet the needs of the businesses and communities within it, but we don't want the challenge and the disruption it has.

"What we hope is that they will start to work through quickly and we can get the roads and the city open, and we’ll see the positivity of having new landscapes, new infrastructure in the city, which we’ve not had for a long time."

Eastern Daily Press: Business leaders listen as Norwich BID sets out its five-year planBusiness leaders listen as Norwich BID sets out its five-year plan (Image: Norwich BID)

Rising living costs

A major challenge for the city's firms is the impact that the rising cost of living will have on shoppers' disposable incomes.

Mr Gurney said that there was not a lot that could be done to help companies but that Norwich BID would instead aim to 'talk to central government to look at how they support us as individuals'.

He added: "I think that businesses will need support, but I think it comes down to us as individuals.

"We would call for something like the windfall tax that basically supports the whole of society because that squeeze on everyone’s income is going to be felt and I think that’s where we would need central government to take an action to ease that while they’ve still got the capacity to do so."

Attracting talent to Norwich

Since the pandemic and the 'great resignation', Norwich businesses have been struggling to recruit the talent needed to grow. At the Norwich BID event, plans were laid out that would help to attract workers to the city.

The organisation is highlighting Norwich as an attractive place to live and work through its Work in Norwich (WiN) campaign, which will be displayed across the country.

It aims to sell Norwich as offering 'an amazing quality of life', along with its 'heritage and culture' and its 'affordable cost of living'.

Tessa Haskey, a partner at law firm Howes Percival, said that Norwich was one of the cities she had the most trouble recruiting for despite it being 'the nicest city'.

She said: "From the business professional services sector one of our main problems is to get staff into Norwich who don’t know Norwich.

"We’ve got six offices across the country and my two biggest recruitment problems are Leicester, where people get pulled into Nottingham and Birmingham, which are nicer cities, and Norwich, which is the nicest city and nobody knows it is here.

"People’s perception is that it is really hard to get to, but actually it’s not that hard to get to and I think that junior lawyers think that potentially their career in not going to be great in Norwich because it’s a small city.

"But the reality is that professional services are actually thriving in Norwich, there’s millions of pounds worth of deals being done in its offices.

"It’s a great place to work and we need to get people into Norwich who don’t know it."

Becoming a sustainable city

Norwich BID revealed that it is committed to helping businesses in the city reduce their carbon emissions.

Part of this proposal includes working with the market to achieve its aim to become the first carbon neutral market in the world.

The organisation is also providing training for companies on creating and implementing 'net-zero strategies' as well as setting up a platform 'that will allow Norwich businesses to adopt circular waste practices'.