Working together brings benefits for the county

Oct 29 2009 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

WORKING together is the main theme in the new edition of Business Connections.

The autumn edition of West Lothian’s magazine for businesses is being distributed this week and has a number of articles demonstrating how collaboration can help the private and public sector tackle the current challenging financial climate.

These include the lead story on the Alba Innovation Challenge, which encourages local businesses to play their part in attracting innovative new businesses to West Lothian and an appeal for local firms to shape West Lothian’s future through a new strategy.

Martyn Day, executive councillor for transport and development said: “Adversity brings out West Lothian’s strengths, and the current economic downturn has once again seen the area leading the way in meeting challenges.

“West Lothian’s success has been built on a spirit of collaboration, and this partnership approach has never been more in evidence – coming clearly to the fore in this issue of Business Connections.”

Business Connections also includes feature articles on support for local businesses through the Business Gateway’s autumn workshop programme, including what the council is doing to make the process of bidding for public sector contracts more accessible, and how West Lothian is bucking the trend by continuing to attract private and public sector infrastructure investment.

This highlights the recently opened West Lothian’s Civic Centre as a blueprint for how public services will be delivered in the future, with the council sharing space with police, courts, procurator-fiscal, fire and rescue service, children’s reporter and health agencies.

Other stories demonstrate how West Lothian businesses are starting up and growing despite the difficult trading conditions, finding niche markets and innovative new solutions, with support from local business agencies.

Businesses helping each other is also under the spotlight, with an exploration of the many forms of networking which create West Lothian’s supportive and collaborative environment for firms.