Tuesday 15th October saw Business Peak District’s 2024 Annual Conference, held at the Palace Hotel Buxton & Spa, with representation from over 70 businesses, the evening’s theme centred around the skills challenges in the region.
BPD Chair, Dr Peter Dewhurst, announced that 14 organisations have now committed to signing the BPD Concordat and the BPD board will be discussing the steps needed to deliver meaningful outputs aligned with the Concordat’s 6 priorities.
Our attendees then heard from Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, followed by an impromptu Q&A session in which she responded to questions about the need for public transport connectivity within the Peak District, the role that the zero carbon agenda will play in her decision-making, the need to support the visitor economy beginning with an audit of accommodation provision to better understand whether our offer matches market demand, as well as the inadequacies of the current support offered to those seeking employment.
We had coordinated an expert panel (see below) from a range of sectors to answer questions raised by our attendees, which sparked an insightful discussion.
The evening continued with two BPD members, Simon Mabey of Digital Urban and Sue Goodchild of the Palace Hotel Buxton, addressing the audience with the skills challenges they have recently faced and their experience of how they have overcome these.
The Chatsworth Suite at the Palace Hotel provided a fantastic space for our 22 exhibitors, including representation from digital marketing, coaching, learning and development, web design, coworking and serviced offices and of course, our partners at the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce.
Delegates were provided with ample opportunity to network, with BPD supplying a lead generation document on the day to optimise networking time. This, coupled with delicious canapes and refreshments made for an extremely enjoyable event for all.
To view photographs from the event, please view the gallery below. (Images are courtesy of Lynn Dewhurst).
