Last week was English Tourism Week and I was delighted to join local businesses and organisations to promote celebrate the contribution the sector to makes to our economy and communities. Here in West Sussex, we are especially blessed with the rolling South Downs and historic market towns. I joined Danielle Dunfield, CEO of The Great Sussex Way who promote tourism across West Sussex and Sally Matson, owner of ‘Red Card’ who are an award winning greeting card retailer for the home counties and the South East, in Petworth to discuss the opportunities to grow visitor numbers and spending. As the summer months approach, it is an exciting time for the tourism sector and I look forward to supporting local enterprise across the county.
We talked about the chance to promote the unique things that West Sussex has including our flourishing English wine, history and culture. But also how important the basics are such as welcoming signposting and easy to use parking machines for visitors.
Last week, the Chancellor presented the annual Budget to Parliament. Amidst the headlines there was good news for rural communities. He announced £200 million of brand new UK-wide funding to fix potholes – of which West Sussex will receive a very useful extra £3 million something that I know residents will welcome. There was also an extension of the Energy Price Guarantee to help every household with the cost of energy until the summer when prices are expected to fall. It’s an expensive measure which is why taxes on businesses are going up but the government has always said it will try to protect households.
The Budget also froze Fuel Duty for another 12 months and introduced what Jeremy Hunt called his ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee’ ensuring that the duty on pints of draught beer in a pub will always be lower than in a supermarket.
