business in wrexham - june 2013

ISSUE FIVE

JUNE 2013

An Essentiallyours publication. Delivered free to over 3,000 businesses in

Wrexham County Borough.

2 BUSINESS IN WREXHAM June 2013

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Company No. 6048593

CONTACT USEssentiallyours Limited Harwoods Lane, Rossett

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Front cover image © Les Evans 2013

Hello to all you Wrexham businesses, I hope you are all well and doing alright so far this year! Having spoken to a lot of local businesses at the start of the year everyone was positive going into this year, and most had a busier than expected January too.

It was a different story for the trades when we hit March though, thanks to the snow, and I think for most, has only just started to get going again. If we are relying on the weather to bring economic growth on a significant level to this country then we really are doomed, and it never ceases to amaze me how much the weather does dictate our business performance, that and school half terms.

Johnstown Tyres and I believe Waterways too, had a particularly tough time with the snow and I believe their roofs caved in under the weight of the snow and interrupted trade for a while. Brian at Johnstown Tyres is just back up and running on the same site but in a different building, so we wish him well, it’s not an experience any of us would want to go through. I hope Waterways have recovered too.

I know the High Street has been struggling for a while nationally, and Wrexham is no different, but it did hit home whilst I was stuck in traffic on Grosvenor road the other day how even Grosvenor road was beginning to look a little down trodden. I’ve always appreciated that way into Wrexham with its old fashioned and beautiful buildings, and this

It’s not all doom and gloom

Carol Hartnell

Jill P

rest

on

i an w i l l i ams photography

07999 500 021www.ianwilliamsphotography.co.uk

Commercial • Products • Industry

Events • Promotions • People

@essentialmag

ISSUE FIVE

JUNE 2013

An Essentiallyours publication. Delivered free to over 3,000 businesses in

Wrexham County Borough.

week I noticed 2 big boarded up commercial buildings, which were a particular eye sore due to the use of those horrid metal sheets to block up windows and doorways.

I know they’re a necessary evil, but do leave me feeling like I’ve just passed through a shanty town. In addition to that there are also 2 large detach house style offices also empty and with the all too familiar ‘to let’ signs outside. Not a pretty sight.

But don’t forget we’re not currently in recession, and if my memory serves me correctly I think the statistics for the first quarter of this year surprisingly showed growth , albeit a very small one, blink and you’d have missed it, but for many of us it may feel to the contrary. It would be interesting to see the business performance statistics for Wrexham in isolation to see how we compare to the overall picture. I do often wonder that although the country might not be in recession, Wrexham could well be!

On a more positive note this month we have a feature on a young local girl, Evie Hart just starting out in business, that’s if I haven’t just put her off with my tales of doom and gloom. I doubt it, she’s young , full of energy and a love for fashion and embarking on an internet business. Hopefully her story will inspire us all, especially those of us that have been around a few years, and inject us with a new lease of life. The budget is also with us, well,

we couldn’t miss that out, and other useful snippets of info.

Enjoy the read and please feel free to get in touch with any business news or comments you’d like to share.

Jill & Carol

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3BUSINESS IN WREXHAM June 2013

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Executive Integrated Services (EIS) Ltd, a local Facilities Management company are this year celebrating ten years in the business. Director Mike Lewis, a local man himself, founded the company in 2003With his background in facilities management he set out with the aim to provide bespoke services to companies in order to help them manage their infrastructure needs. By providing a wide range of maintenance services EIS enables their customers to focus on being successful within their core business.Over the years EIS has grown the business and is now working with a

number of partners such as Henrob, Corning, Tetrapak, APPE, Wrexham and Conwy County Councils.

EIS is also currently in partnership with Ipsen Biopharm Ltd, a major Pharmaceutical manufacturing facility based on the Wrexham Industrial Estate.

EIS manage their Site and office services operation. Mike Lewis said “We at EIS feel privileged to have established this partnership with Ipsen Biopharm Ltd and feel very proud of our achievements.”

The Contract at Ipsen includes managing multiple soft services including security maintenance

systems, mechanical & electrical services and also general building maintenance. EIS also undertakes building project refurbishments and churn management on site.

Simon Hutin, the Head of Security and Site Services at Ipsen, said “As a Biotechnology company we operate in a highly regulated, competitive, and Quality-orientated environment that demands efficient and timely support. EIS provide us with this.”

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It’s amazing how your thoughts can conspire to constrain you, with past experiences creating a hard disk memory in your parietal brain which may auto-pilot you to never repeat something or your limbic brain telling you a thousand reasons why you should retreat, not invest. I’ve met so many people, wearing their virtual black armbands or past experience, failing to forgive and move on.Successful people, have mastered the notion of ubiquitous opportunity. They don’t pre-judge, they stay open to everything and closed to nothing. Even if that means repeating a previously unsuccessful thing on a different day as the outcome may be different. Your past experiences can end up pre-programming you to be closed to opportunity, unless you constantly update your stored experiences and beliefs with the up to date version of you.Earlier I sent this tweet, “Opportunities are never lost, someone will always find the ones you fail to see/action”. It’s a great reminder that those who have moved on into the moment of now, rarely miss opportunity, as they see the possibility in everyone and everything at anytime. They have great listening skills, ask lots of questions, take lots of feedback and update their personal software. People who have pre-formed opinions, want to spend more time arguing they are right or pre-judging outcomes rarely see as much opportunity. So spend more of your time reflecting as to whether you might be in that place, I have been and from experience I can tell you, the less hung up you are, the more UP! will come your way.

BUSINESS IN WREXHAM June 2013

Over 250,000 people have downloaded HM Revenue and Customs’ tax calculator app that allows people to work out how much tax they pay and how the Government spends it. The tax app, which was introduced in the spring, has been updated with added features and can be downloaded for free from Apple’s iTunes store or from the Google Play store.David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary

to the Treasury, said: “Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent. The calculator is an excellent way to bring transparency into the tax system. With so many people downloading the app, we can see that there is a real appetite to know where taxpayers’ hard-earned money is spent.” The new features include:• Updated public spending

information

• Pop-up explanations giving detailed descriptions of each spending category

• Ability to enter your own tax code

• More details on tax rates used – showing what income has been taxed at which rate, and the rate at which National Insurance has been charged

HMRC’s online calculator has also been used 200,000 times.

HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS UPDATED TAX APP LAUNCHED

SEVEN THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT PAYEWith the biggest shake-up to Pay As You Earn (PAYE) in nearly seventy years about to start, we look at some interesting facts about PAYE.• There are double the number of

people in PAYE today – over 30 million – than in 1944

• Winston Churchill was Prime Minister when PAYE first came in

• The person who piloted PAYE – Sir Kingsley Wood – died unexpectedly on the day it was due to be announced to Parliament

• The system where employers would buy National Insurance “stamps” and attach them to a card ended in 1975 when they were incorporated into PAYE

• When PAYE came in most people remained with the same employer they started working with for most of their working lives. Today people move jobs and change employers much more frequently

• Every year HMRC receives incorrect or incomplete information from employers. A

recent study revealed that 128 staff were entered as Mr, Ms or Mrs Dummy, while 40 people were apparently 200 years old after incorrect dates of birth were submitted to the PAYE system

• Over 80 per cent of errors in employee data are due to an incorrect name, date of birth or National Insurance number

By the start of April 2013 all employers will be required to submit tax information in real time.

7

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Contributed by Warren Hadlow & Medwyn Edwards, Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management Ltd.

Telephone: 0800 652 8175 – e-mail [email protected]

Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management Ltd represents St. James’s Place Wealth Management Plc, which is authorised and regulated by the

Financial Services Authority.

It’s June already and all those well intentions and New Year resolutions seem to have been made such a while ago!Perhaps some of our readers made a promise to themselves to ‘sort out their finances’ (or even sort their paperwork drawer!) and this is where we think we can help.For the months of June and July we are offering a no obligation financial review at our Wrexham office every Wednesday between 8.00 am and 7.00 pm (for the early risers and night owls). Currently the following 5 areas are perhaps the most popular topics where we are helping:• ISA Planning – Tax year end

is some 7 weeks away. Have you looked to use this year’s allowance or are you going to miss the opportunity to save or invest tax efficiently?

• Pension Planning – As usual plenty of changes and plenty of opportunities in this area. Would you like to review your pensions, improve your understanding of what they might provide for you and compare their performance over the last few years?

• Savings and Investments – There is a saying that ‘knowledge is king’. If you have perhaps ISAs, Bonds (perhaps With Profits Bonds?) or regular savings plans do

you know if they are at the top of the tree, somewhere in the middle or languishing at the bottom? Would you like to find out?

• Inheritance Planning – Would you like to consider how to use gifting opportunities (to gift towards your children or grandchildren) effectively? Would you like to review your current arrangements to try to ensure the threat of Inheritance Tax is reduced?

• Business Planning - many readers may wish to review their business arrangements before the end of the tax year. Is it worth spending an hour checking that your business life insurance plans still offer good value? How long is it since you have properly reviewed the Pension Plans you and your key people have in place?

Of course, your priority area may be something different. We are very confident that one of our team of qualified advisers will be able to assist.If you would like to make an appointment please call Kate or Angela on 01978 311611 or email [email protected] and we will look forward to meeting you.Wednesdays in June and July may never have been so useful!

At Hadlow Edwards we offer a distinctive approach to our clients and their financial affairs. You get all the benefits of personal attention and years of experience, from an approachable, friendly team of professionals. We take care of the details and take away the frustration of financial planning.

• Investments • Retirement Plans • Insurance • Tax

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Fax: 01978 311 633email: [email protected]

web: www.hadlowedwards.co.uk

Wednesday Invitation

BUSINESS IN WREXHAM June 2013

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise.

You may get back less than the amount invested. The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change

at any time and with the exception of the ISA, are dependent on individual circumstances.


Many of the announcements were aimed at businesses to stimulate economic growth. Here we look at some of the headline items and key allowances for individuals and businesses.• The basic personal allowance (currently £9,440) is to be increased to £10,000 from 6 April 2014. This is a year earlier than planned.• Support for home buyers - A new Help-to-Buy scheme was announced. The government will provide interest-free loans of up to 20% of the value of new-build properties as a deposit, provided buyers can find 5% themselves. This is good news for those currently house-hunting and also for current homeowners as it could result in house prices increasing.• Fuel duty – an increase in fuel duty of 1.89 pence per litre planned from 1 September 2013 has been cancelled. • Corporation Tax - corporation tax rates for small and large companies will be aligned at 20% from April 2015. The small companies’ rate (for companies with profits of up to £300,000) is already 20% and the main corporation tax rate will reduce from its current 23% to 21% for the year beginning 1 April 2014 and to 20% for the year beginning

1 April 2015. Whilst this is good news for companies with profits greater than £300,000, smaller companies do not benefit from a reduction in their corporation tax rate.• Employment Allowance - an allowance of £2,000 per year will be available for all businesses and charities to offset against the cost of employer’s class 1 national insurance contributions (NICs). This should provide a real reduction in the cost of employing workers by all types of businesses. The new employment allowance will reduce employer’s NICs paid from 6 April 2014. It’s a shame that we need to wait until 2014 for the change!• Key Allowances for tax year 2013-14• Personal allowance up to £9,440 from £8,105• Higher rate tax down to £32,010 from £34,370• VAT threshold up to £79k from £77k• Personal capital gains tax allowance – unchanged at £10,600 (goes up to £11k in tax year 2014-15). • Corporation tax – unchanged at 20% for companies with profits under £300,000. Main rate fell by 1% to 23% from April 2013.

• ISA threshold £11,520. Max. of £5,760 cash.• Mileage stays at 45p per mile for business use of private car up to 10k miles, 25p for additional miles.

If you require any further

information on the above we

can be contacted on 01978

310600 or email support@

simplytaxandaccounts.co.uk

• Business Accounts and Taxa� on• Self Assessment Tax Returns• Bookkeeping, VAT and Payroll• Construc� on Industry Scheme• Business Start Ups• Fees Fixed in advance • Mee� ngs at home or your

business premises

01978 310 [email protected] • www.simplytaxandaccounts.co.uk

Call Shona Hambleton for a freeinitial discussion without obligation on

Local business changes name to

SimplyTax&AccountsShona Hambleton set up in business in 2006 as TaxAssist Accountants off ering tax and accountancy services specifi cally for small businesses and private individuals in the Wrexham area. Now in its fi � h year of business, the business has changed its name to SimplyTax&Accounts, which coincides with it opera� ng independently of the TaxAssist Accountants network.

The SimplyTax&Accounts name was born out of the ‘Ronseal’ idea i.e. the business does what it says on the � n. It also refl ects that SimplyTax&Accounts take a simple, straigh� orward, no jargon approach to the way that they do business with their clients. Each member of the team (4 in total) has been carefully selected to fi t in with this.

Apart from the change in name, it is very much business as usual. There is always a watchful eye on reducing your tax bill where possible. Over the years they have built up a reputa� on for providing a personalised service, taking � me to get to know your business and tailoring the service accordingly and that is s� ll the case.

Catering for sole traders, partnership, limited companies and private individuals, the services that they provide include prepara� on of annual accounts, self assessment tax returns, payroll (PAYE), VAT returns, forming a limited company, cashfl ow projec� ons and bookkeeping services.

With tax revenues down HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have introduced a number of ini� a� ves to increase their income:-

• Plumbers Tax Safe Plan – launched on 1 March 2011 this off ers reduced HMRC penal� es to people working in the plumbing industry who need to get their tax aff airs in order and decide to do so by 31 May 2011.

• Poor records - a le� er is about to be sent by HMRC to 50,000 small businesses advising them that they may be subject to a check on their records which may well mean that small businesses will require even more help.

36

BUDGET 2013 UPDATE

George Osborne presented his fourth budget on 20th March 2013 in the midst of us still having a weak economy. At least we are not in a triple-dip recession!


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I am a 24 year old fashion obsessive and always have been from the awful neon tracksuits, to finding ways to fashion my school uniform, I loved that with fashion you can be anyone you wanted to be and that you can express how you feel though it.Fashion is not about where you come from, your background or how much money you have, it’s how you represent yourself, how you choose to put looks together and through it you can be you.My love of fashion grew and grew but unfortunately I cannot sew and had little patience with measurements for pattern cutting, so when it came to university I applied to do International Fashion Marketing which combined all the elements of business I loved.I have been lucky enough to work for a variety of clothing companies, including Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and a company called Hallett which is a concessional company that has floor space in a number of big stores including New Look and Debenhams.I love all areas of fashion and love creating unique looks that are different to what’s on the high street, I have a love of vintage clothing and get so inspired by the original fashion icons like Audrey

local fashionista

Hepburn, Edie Sedgwick and Jackie Onassis as well as today’s icons like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen who have a perfect mix of vintage and current trends to create something unique, I am also a big obsessive of fashion bloggers I draw so much inspiration and confidence from them and how they style their looks. Evie Hart is a business I have had in mind for a few years now, originally I wanted to open a boutique, but due to the current economic climate and the overheads of having a shop in a desirable location, it was something I knew I could not financially do.With the rise of online shopping I knew there was a opportunity for my business to become a reality, and hopefully offer something a bit different to what is already available, my business concept is to offer my customers a online boutique.Evie Hart which has trend based fashion in limited amounts (and vintage items too), I have searched high and low to find a perfect mix of quality, fashion and reasonable price points to suit every fashionista and every occasion from shopping to the races.


Get your business into the hands of over 6000 local residents

Promote your business or service... for free

Essentiallyours is an important thread in the fabric of local life, promoting the achievements of individuals, organisations, schools and other groups in a positive manner. We fulfill vital roles for local campaigns, they raise funds for needy causes and provide platforms for a variety of other worthy organisations. We also help local companies, both large and small, to promote their goods and services to thousands of potential customers.

We aim to provide local news and feature coverage and our magazines always contain a high ratio of relevant editorial. Because people avidly read our publication, advertisers generally enjoy a healthy response to their messages and campaigns. Several

businesses have advertised with us for many years and have been happy to recommend our publications to others.

Our free of charge publications play important roles in their communities, being far more than simply magazines which drop through people’s letter-boxes each month.

We target two affluent areas in Wrexham County Borough, the first being Rossett, Marford, Gresford, Pulford and Burton. The second edition covers Bangor on Dee, Overton on Dee, Cross Lanes, Marchwiel and Penley.

To find out more about advertising your business or service please contact us on 01244 571 602.

Without a marketing budget your options may be limited - but as a small business you will recognise the need to promote your business.With a bit of creativity and some work on your part there are a number of ways to advertise your business for free.Write a press release

Writing a press release is the best way to generate some free publicity. Basically, most journalists do not have much time to write stories, so if you can provide them with easily written text it becomes quite easy for them to publish it.But be careful and don’t presume that your story will be interesting. The fact that you sell a product is not very

interesting. Interesting stories are more likely to be human interest, or about a new business opening. Look inside a publication to see what sorts of stories that they publish and write your press release like one of these.Build a page on Facebook

Facebook, at least for the time being offers the ability to build a free page. Then your fans can “Like” your page and any updates that you make will appear in the timeline. It seems likely that over time Facebook will offer less free stuff for businesses and start charging for it.Build a following on Twitter

Twitter is a great way to promote your business. It is quick and simple to do. You

can put up a page and start following people. You can search for people in the search box.

You also can schedule Tweets in advance so that you can plan a steady stream of marketing ideas.

Shop windows

If you are holding a local event, many shops will be quite happy to put up a small A4 poster in their window. Many websites have events pages that do not charge to promote an event.

Start blogging

It can be a bit time consuming, but if you start a blog on your website, using software like WordPress or Typepad you can generate more traffic.


COMPANY CAR AFFORDABILITYWhen it comes to affordability, ownership costs are as significant as the initial and monthly contract hire rentals. Taxations and emissions, fuel economy and servicing, insurance and depreciation - these are all factors that impact drivers and your company alike.

Cleaner Cars reduce tax liabilityCompany Car Taxation levels are linked to CO2 emissions. They significantly favour vehicles producing below 110g/km. By driving a Toyota low carbon or hybrid technology vehicle, your employees can reduce their liability to pay ‘Benefit-in-Kind’ tax.

Switching from a Ford Focus Zetec 2.0 TDCI diesel to a Toyota Auris Hybrid Icon could save a driver in the 40% tax band over £2000 in tax over 3 years.

The (BIK) ‘Benefit-in-Kind’ appropriate percentage is also the rate which determines the Class 1A National Insurance payment your organisation makes for each vehicle provided. The lower it is, the lower the company contribution. Over a 3 year period, the Auris savings could equate to more than £750 per vehicle when compared to the Focus – sums you simply can’t afford to ignore.

Get a clear picture of whole-life costs

It can be hard to get a clear view of whole-life costs, but two tools from Toyota help bring everything into focus.

Complete Company Car Tax Guide

Our Company Car Tax Guide is an interactive and comprehensive resource that explains how business vehicles are treated for tax in the UK. In addition, a searchable calculator gives the driver BIK and company NIC rates for their car for the next 3 years. View it now…www.taxability.toyota.co.uk

Complete Car Cost Calculator

The Complete Car Cost Calculator is the only tool that gives a true whole life cost for any passenger car.

Using independently sourced cost data, and taking your unique personal and business circumstances - including funding method-into account, our reports accurately summarise costs and reclaimable tax benefits. A full discounted cashflow shows what operating a vehicle really costs.

• Find any car’s true whole-life cost to you

• Compare leasing or purchase options

To arrange a personalised report, please call Gary Evans on 01244 821031

AURIS ICON 1.8 HYBRID £214 + VAT per month on Contract Hire* Business users only

Initial Rental £1284+VATFollowed by 35 Rentals £214+VATCO2 Emissions 87g/kmBIK Banding 10% P11d Value £19940Offer based on Toyota Contract Hire excludes pearlescent paint.

AVENSIS TR 2.0D-4D 4 DRContract Hire* (Business users only)

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SAVE OVER £2000 BIK IN 3 YEARS


Eagles Meadow has been hailed as the greenest shopping centre in Wales is celebrating more eco success after reducing its water consumption by 1.8 million litres.After a major campaign last year, Eagles Meadow in Wrexham now uses 35 per cent less water and 11 per cent less electricity.The shopping centre already recycles 92 per cent of the waste produced there - that's way ahead of the Welsh Government's recycling targets.The Government's statutory target is to recycle 52 per cent of Welsh waste this year, 70 per cent by 2025 and to have zero waste by 2050.The efforts of the Eagles Meadow team were praised by local AM Lesley Griffiths, who is also the Welsh Government Health Minister.She said: "It’s really important that we recycle waste and conserve our precious resources. “We want to make sure that we leave a viable planet for future generations so we really do need to act now.

"Eagles Meadow's green credentials are impressive. It is really excellent that they have reduced electricity and water consumption so spectacularly on top of recycling more than 90 of their waste."Eagles Meadow Manager Kevin Critchley is extremely proud of their record but says they aren't resting on their laurels.Mr Critchley said: "We believe we may well be the greenest shopping centre in Wales."Improving our green credentials and upping our game in terms of being eco-friendly is a major part of my job and one we take very seriously at Eagles Meadow."The figures we've just collated show we used 35 per cent less water last year than we did the previous year - that equates to 1.8 million litres of water saved. On top of that we cut back on electricity consumption by 11 per cent."The reduction was achieved through a number of common sense measures. It was by cleaning and security staff being aware and reporting any waste.

Things like leaking taps and toilets where the valve’s gone so it’s constantly cycling. “The trick is to get them to look for it, to get them involved so they report it and then we quickly get it fixed.“We’ve got some fantastic people working here who are really committed to Eagles Meadow. All the small savings have combined to make a great big impact.“We recycle 100 per cent of our cardboard and glass and I'm now looking at ways of upping the percentage of the compacted waste that's being recycled.

"To put it in some sort of perspective, our recycling percentage in 2010 was 84 per cent and that's from almost zero from when I arrived here in 2009.

"It’s a superb performance, and I’m rightly proud of the efforts we’ve made and the work that the staff and the contractor have put into it.

"Fortunately, we’re backed up by an owner who’s got a very green policy and has provided fantastic support."

Submitted by Ceidiog Hughes.

Shopping centre is a green giant

NETWORK LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW!

BUZZ TUESDAY - INFORMAL NETWORKINGThis is not just the usual networking event where people get together in a room to interact. buzz tuesday provides you with a speaker to talk on a topic that is interesting, educational and inspiring and more importantly relevant to help grow your business.

25TH JUNE 2013 email [email protected] for more information. If you’d like to meet like-minded professionals from the Chester and Wrexham area in a relaxed setting, and also learn something new visit www.buzztuesday.co.uk

Effective business net-working is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another.

Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.

Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent?

Ask open-ended questions in networking conversations. This means questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This form of questioning opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.

Have a clear understanding of what you do and why, for whom, and what makes your doing it special or different from others doing the same thing. In order to get referrals, you must first have a clear understanding of what you do that you can easily articulate to others.


Business Minister Edwina Hart has voiced her support for a campaign to build a super prison in North Wales.According to Wrexham Business Professionals, it would bring massive and much-needed social and economic benefits for the region, including a 1,000 new jobs.The Ministry of Justice say there is a need for a large prison to house up to 2,000 inmates, with North Wales being one of the possible locations.Plans for a prison in Caernarfon were dropped in 2009 when a site on Wrexham Industrial Estate was in the running.The campaign for a prison in North Wales has attracted widespread support across the judiciary and among the professional agencies that deal with offenders.Currently, prisoners from North Wales are scattered around 25 different prisons in the UK.It’s estimated the prison itself would employ 480 people and support services and suppliers would take on another 560 people in the wider region.Mrs Hart was speaking before a meeting of Wrexham Business Professionals - made up of accountants and solicitors - where she was guest of honour along with Robin Jones,

Managing Director of the Village Bakery.She said: “The First Minister has made it absolutely clear that we’d be very supportive of a prison coming to North Wales, not just for the jobs and the economy but also for the welfare of the prisoners.“I think it’s very important that local authorities collectively work together to have the benefits not just for Wrexham but the whole of North Wales.“I think it’s very important that Wrexham Business Professionals are making that call because there are enormous job opportunities as well as supply chain opportunities.”Mrs Hart was delighted with the continuing success story of the award-winning Villager Bakery which employs 250 people in three bakeries, in Minera and two on Wrexham Industrial Estate.The bakery had expanded with the help of grant aid from the Welsh Government and were, she said, a positive example to the rest of the business community.She added: “We’ve absolutely delighted with the success of the Village Bakery - they made enough Welsh Cakes before St David’s Day to build the equivalent of two Snowdons.

Minister backs super prison campaign

“They are a significant company who are selling Wales outside Wales which is very important.“They show that you can run a good business from anywhere and importantly they also have a local sourcing policy which is a big issue now.“With the crisis we’ve had in the food industry recently, people are keener to know where their food comes from and they like to know that local people are involved in producing it. creating jobs and boosting the economy.”Robin Jones was grateful to the Welsh Government for the financial assistance they had given, including a processing and marketing grant of £620,000 when they opened their gluten-free bakery in 2008Mr Jones said: “We support our local economy and we receive support from the Welsh assembly, something that we are very grateful for. We can demonstrate that with this support we can grow a business and repay that support with jobs and wealth creation for the local economy.”There too was Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths who said: “The way the Village Bakery has expanded and the success of the gluten free bakery is amazing.“I am very proud that the Welsh Government has played a part in the continuing success story of the Village Bakery.“They have received a large grant of more than £600,000 which gave them the springboard and confidence to take the business to the next level.“They are a local company

employing local people - 93 per cent of the 250 staff live within three miles of their place of work.”“The Village Bakery is proof that Wrexham is a great place to do business and they are shining example of what can be achieved here.”Speaking on behalf of Wrexham Business Professionals, Chartered Accountant Gill Atkinson said: “A new prison in Wrexham would mean 1,000 precious jobs and we’re very grateful to Mrs Hart for her support.“This is a huge prize the like of which we will probably never see again in North Wales because there won’t be any other 1,000-job establishments created here.“In the meantime, companies like the Village Bakery are a real inspiration and a clear demonstration that Wrexham is a great place to do business.”It was a message echoed by solicitor Peter Butler, from GHP Legal, who said: “To be able to have the Welsh Government Business Minister here is a real feather in our cap and to have people of the calibre of Robin Jones talking about business and enterprise in this area is fantastic.”Fellow solictor Michael Keenan, of Walker Smith Way, added: “Our aim as a group is to emphasise the importance of using local services and the availability of locally based expertise to the wider business community.”Submitted by Ceidiog Hughes.

From left, Michael Keenan of Walker Smith Way, Robin Jones, Village Bakery, Peter Butler, GHP Legal, Business Minister Edwina Hart AM,

Gill Atkinson of Coxeys and Lesley Griffiths AM


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Wrexham Power Limited has completed its first stage of consultation on plans for the Wrexham Energy Centre, a gas-fired power station that will incorporate Combined Cycle Gas Turbine technology (CCGT), providing enough

power for 1,250,000 homes and creating an opportunity to provide discounted heat, power and gas to businesses to Wrexham Industrial Estate.Located on the Wrexham Industrial Estate, the proposed gas-fired power station will deliver new highly skilled jobs and investment for Wrexham and provide security of power for both existing and future businesses on the Industrial Estate as well as generating electricity for homes and businesses across the UK.Why do we need it?Across the UK, conventional coal and oil-fired power stations are being forced to shut down to comply with the European Union’s Large Combustion Plant Directive. In addition, seven existing

nuclear power stations are coming to the end of their usable lives and will be decommissioned over the next decade.

This represents a loss of around 22 GW (gigawatts) of

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Across the UK the demand for power is increasing. While we are reducing power consumption wherever we can, the population is growing and that means more gadgets to re-charge and more homes using more everyday appliances. Outside of the home, more of the rail network is being electrified and we are seeing an increase in the use of electric cars. In order to keep homes and businesses supplied with the power they rely on every day, there is an urgent need to develop a mix of new electricity generators.

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business in wrexham - june 2013

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