In recent years great progress has been made to reduce unemployment in our area. In fact, unemployment has fallen by 62% since 2010 and is at its lowest level since 2001. 

This is excellent news, but it still means that there are about 1,000 people who are out of work. That's 1,000 people whose talents are wasted.  Employment brings a person not only an income but self-respect, confidence and independence.  Since 2012 I have run regular ‘Job Fares’ to try and help people get into work.

Recently, I met with the area manager for Job Centre Plus. We discussed the levels of employment in Nuneaton which are below the national average. This is in the context that there are a record number of job vacancies at the moment in the country. Out of that meeting we decided to hold an ‘Employer’ event for businesses to learn about the ways in which the Job Centre can work to help them find staff. 

It ultimately proved to be an excellent event attended by people from both small and large businesses. 

One of the biggest challenges is that many of the available jobs in our area are not in Nuneaton itself but on the large industrial parks at places like Birch Coppice. 

This raises two issues.  Firstly, how people without transport can get to jobs. In the case of Birch Coppice there is a bus service from Nuneaton station which has been organised by the Job Centre, the County Council and Stage Coach. But that does not mean that access to other places is always easy.

The second issue is that we need more local jobs. In Nuneaton we have some great employers and some sizeable employers. That said, not enough jobs are being created in the Town itself. 

This brings me to another meeting I attended recently with local members of the Chamber of Commerce. From that meeting there was great concern expressed about the lack of employment land available in Nuneaton.  The consensus was that the proposals in the Borough Plan will be inadequate in this regard.

Worse still, I am speaking to businesses which are moving into adjoining areas because there are no suitable premises in Nuneaton to enable them to expand. I agree that we need more employment sites and we also need a better balance between new housing and jobs. We need more local jobs so we don't just continue to become a dormitory town where people desert the place during the working day.

Our area has so much to offer – most particularly the benefits of its location.  Much more should be done to bring forward employment sites – even the ones identified in the draft Borough Plan – in order to get more jobs into the area quickly.

It is such a pity that our Labour-led Borough Council seems oblivious to this vital need. It is not only just for the creation of new jobs but for improving Council finances as well.

Councils already benefit from retaining a proportion of the business rates.  But from 2019 we are going to be moving to a system where local Councils will retain all of the business rates.

The big prize on offer for Councils will be to enjoy increased income from business rates stemming from a growth of new businesses. Sadly, I don't see much being done locally to grasp this opportunity.

I just hope that our own Borough Council will finally realise that they need to engage, at senior levels, with businesses in order to drive up the growth in business rates.  2019 is only two years away. We should be getting out there and grabbing every opportunity to attract new businesses and create new jobs.