New team's ambition to transform chamber

President Adrian Wright has been in post since May and has been joined by chief executive Corin Crane, who started last month.

The pair have ambitions to transform the role of the chamber and drive membership up.

Currently the chamber only represents about 1,300 out of the 32,000 businesses across the Black Country and Mr Wright said it needed to connect with everyone running a business in the area, from one-man bands to company's employing thousands of staff.

The aim is to have a two-year business plan for the chamber in place for the start of April and the initial stage of taking stock and formulating that plan has already begun.

Former West Bromwich Albion sales and marketing director Mr Wright said: "I have got the commercial and marketing experience and Corin is in tune with political lobbying and knows where funding is available."

Shrewsbury-born Mr Crane, who has joined from the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership where he was director, said: "One of the things we are both agreed on is that the chamber is as strong as the members within it and we want to raise the voices of chamber members at the highest levels.

"Sometimes people just talk to businesses rather than let them talk – that is at the heart of what we want to do.

"We also want to campaign on big issues that are important to local business and may be holding back the economy."

One of the first steps ahead of the unveiling of the chamber plan will be to form a transportation group that will work with the West Midlands Economic Forum.

"The group will involve specialists from the transport sector and meet regularly to draw up a policy document to take to the local authorities and Central Government setting out what our businesses see as the problems and the action that needs to be taken," said Mr Wright.

The group, which will start work next month, will also be talking to neighbouring chambers in an effort to work as a region towards road, rail and air travel improvement.

Mr Crane said he was also keen to see the group raising the issue of shortage of HGV drivers in the Black Country.

"We have identified that some haulage firms don't want to pay for training drivers because they risk losing them to other employers once trained. There is a clear need for funding for training of HGV drivers," he added.

Mr Crane, a former head of economic partnerships and inward investment for the City of Wolverhampton Council, said the chamber needed to work for the businesses that were not currently chamber members as well as for the existing membership.

Mr Wright, who was also acting chief executive until Mr Crane took up post, said that the chamber had to move forward and at the core of that would be improving its business intelligence about the region.

"We should know which firms are making a profit, how many they employ and who exports and who does not." he explained."

Both men agree that the chamber needs to concentrate on retaining and listening to what the existing membership base wants.

Mr Wright said: "Corin and I specifically see the chamber increasing the base of people associated with it and having the best business intelligence of anyone in the region so that it is the first point of contact for local authorities and businesses of all sizes for information and back up."

The chamber will build on the success of its Platinum Group, now 31 strong, which supports members in the manufacturing, automotive, logistics, freight and transport sector and shares best practice. A new group representing the service sector is now into double figures and one for the leisure and tourism sector is in the pipeline.

Mr Wright and Mr Crane are also keen to see the chamber taking a bigger role in encouraging inward investment from foreign businesses.

Informing members about the development on Brexit will also be an important part of the chamber's future role as well as communicating the views of the Black Country business community to the Government.

Mr Crane said the chamber would also be inviting all the candidates in the fight to become Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority to come and talk to chamber members.

* The chamber will host an Autumn Statement briefing at Wolverhampton Grammar School, Compton Road, on November 23.