Business Leads UK

An area of Surrey affected by flooding has been awarded money to improve watercourses and to review flood relief systems.

Surrey Heath Borough Council secured a £30,000 grant from Defra to study the flooding problems in Chobham and the surrounding areas.

The council will work with landowners to reduce the flow of water through Chobham.

It will have access to the grant from the new financial year.

Councillor Chris Rowbotham said: "Flooding is a recurring issue in Chobham and affects a good number of it's businesses and residents.

"This review aims to identify these problems and find a solution that will benefit everyone."

Good news for all of us living and working in the area I'd say. Perhaps I can put my wellies away for the Winter in future!!

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A series of new government regulations could cost businesses more than £25 billion over the next four years, threatening economic recovery, a leading business group fears.

In a new report, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) will say that 18 British employment and tax regulations due to come into force by 2014 will cost companies money that could be spent on creating new jobs. Only two of the new regulations are European Union measures.

The figures come only a day before new unemployment data is expected to show that the number of people out of work in the UK has breached 2.5 million for the first time since November 1994.

The BCC, said that businesses needed the Government to “get off their backs ... The cost of employing people must be reduced if future governments are serious about giving businesses the freedom to create jobs and drive our economic recovery.”

Research by Hay Group, the management consultancy, showed that nearly a quarter of companies that froze pay last year are set to freeze wages this year.

The BCC is calling for a three-year moratorium on all new employment legislation and is urging the Government to lead a campaign for an EU-wide delay to the introduction of regulations.

“A good start would be to abolish the planned increase in national insurance in 2011 — it’s a tax on jobs and will hinder recovery,” Mr Frost said.

The 1 per cent increase in employers’ national insurance contributions next April will cost businesses nearly £5 billion a year, totalling £14 billion by 2014, the BCC said, citing the Government’s own forecasts. It is unlikely that the Government will reverse its decision on national insurance as it seeks to raise more tax income.

Besides the new national insurance rules, companies will have to foot a £1.5 billion bill to comply fully with the EU Agency Workers Directive, which gives agency workers the same rights as permanent employees.

New rules for paternity leave, also being introduced next year, will cost businesses about £12.5 million in 2011 and £9 million each year thereafter. The new scheme for workplace pensions will cost about £4.8 billion a year, the BCC said.

The TUC attacked the BCC’s findings. Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the union organisation, said: “The BCC is using spurious statistics to confuse decent pensions, training and treatment at work with unnecessary red tape. The measures highlighted in this report are vital for a sustained economic recovery.”

A recent report suggests that this could be a particularly subdued transfer window for many footbal clubs of all sizes. For many years Premiership clubs in particular have been turning increasingly to foreign players so that the 'trickle down' effect to clubs in the Football League has diminished. In the past there were even cases where clubs were able to build a new stand from the transfer of a player to the top flight.

Leaving aside the plight of Portsmouth, it is Football League clubs which are in real danger. Many Championship clubs have a tendency to overspend in an effort to reach the Premiership. League 1 and League 2 clubs are very reliant on short-term cash flow like any smaller business. Former Premiership clubs relegated to League 1 have to maintain expensive infrastructures designed for the Premier League.

Sooner or later a club is going to disappear altogether, as has happened in the non-league set up, they don't just go into administration and reappear free of debt. Some think that is the wake up call that football needs, but it would be devastating for the fans of the club involved, even if they formed a 'phoenix' club.

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Japan has 13 prospective venues in its bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, including nine of the 10 venues from the 2002 World Cup which the country co-hosted with South Korea.

Japan initially said it would only bid to host the events if Tokyo won the vote to stage the 2016 Olympics as the Japan Football Association (JFA) planned to use the proposed 100,000-seater waterfront Olympic stadium.

Tokyo, which did not host matches at the 2002 tournament, has put forward two stadiums.

Osaka is planning to build a new venue following new FIFA rules that World Cup host countries require a stadium with a minimum capacity of 80,000 for the opening game and final.

FIFA will announce the hosts for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in December.

A diamond earring that used to belong to Diego Maradona has been sold for 25,000 euros (£22,000) - five times its asking price - at auction in Italy.

The unidentified woman who bought the item at the sale in the northern city of Bolzano said simply that she was satisfied with her purchase.

The money will go towards paying off some of the Argentine football legend's 37m-euro (£33m) Italian tax debt.

The debt was built up from his days as a player for Napoli from 1984-1991.

The earring was seized by police when Maradona travelled to Italy last year to visit a weight-loss clinic.

It is not the first time Maradona's assets have been taken from him.

During another visit to Naples in 2006, police seized two Rolex watches.

But they cannot arrest the footballer, as the criminal case for tax evasion against him has lapsed under Italy's statute of limitations.

A sponsorship agency a valuable resource. The connections that a sponsorship agency has are typically some of the highest quality (considering their job puts them in contact with key players in the sponsorship world on a daily basis).  They know intimately the needs of the sponsors they are in contact with, and it’s their job to research others that might be a good fit for your opportunity.  Sponsorship sales is typically one of many tasks a property owner manages – someone who sells sponsorship as for a living obviously has an advantage.  Why?  Because it’s their full time job to do that, and experience matters.  They have access to decision makers that the average person might not be able to reach so easily. 

The best part is, typically they are paid much better when they place a sponsorship, so they’re truly “singing for their supper” right now in such a competitive sponsorship environment.  They have very good incentive to get your opportunity a sponsor; and unless you are a full time sponsorship sales employee, an agency rep will likely better know the ins and outs of what’s happening in the sponsorship world, what’s popular and what is not, how to communicate value and how to get their foot in the door better than you do. The truth is that it’s a tough economy and sponsorship is as competitive as ever.  People that make it in this era are those who are resourceful and innovative.

The clear fact about working with a sponsorship resource is that there are specialists in a particular focus of sponsorship that can add value to the sponsorship partnership in some way.

Like most of life, there are resources that can take something we start with and make it better.  Sponsorship really has transitioned into more of an event planning role, lots to manage but lots to gain.  You can’t be an expert at everything, but you can harness the knowledge and influence of others so your sponsorship experience is well rounded and well done. 

The General director of the French Football Federation (FFF) Jacques Lambert says that Turkey is France’s biggest rival in the race to host Football's Euro 2016.

According to AFP, the bid official assessed the Turkish bid as extremely strong and well-known by the UEFA executive committee after two failed attempts by the country to organise the tournament in 2008 and 2012.

“The danger for France is to be seen as favourites. Paris was the favourite to host the 2012 Olympics and we all know the result,” Lambert warned.

The FFF director also said he senses less desire and motivation in the Italian bid, but thinks it has an advantage over France having bid for Euro 2012.