A NATIONAL award was presented to district councils for their support of nearly 100 new businesses.

The South and Vale Business Support team at South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District councils celebrated their achievements at the 2019 annual conference in London on December 4.

Winners were presented with the Institute of Economic Development 2019 Greatest Economic Impact award, which recognises the councils’ ‘Stronger Economy – start-up’.

Their initiative, which ran from March 2018 to October 2019, stimulated 87 new businesses to start up in 18 months.

This was achieved by holding practical workshops in the towns of Didcot, Faringdon, Berinsfield and Shrivenham.

A series of week-long events were held to support start-ups and stimulate the local economy.

The aims were to increase the confidence and wellbeing of participants, assist people to start a business and encourage new sustainable growth.

The Institute of Economic Development (IED), established over 30 years ago, is the UK’s leading independent professional body representing economic development and regeneration practitioners.

Councillor Emily Smith, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “I feel extremely proud of the whole team – they’ve worked very hard to support the thousands of small businesses in our districts and I’m really pleased they’ve received some deserved recognition for all their efforts.”

Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, councillor Sue Cooper admitted she was ‘delighted’ her team won the national award.

She said that despite the economic uncertainty in recent years, her team has created new opportunities and jobs for local residents.

The councillor added that ‘this helps ensure our local economy continues to prosper’.

Winners were praised by Sir Howard Bernstein, IED Patron, and Bev Hurley, Chair of the Institute, for attending each business workshop to raise awareness of the councils’ support and to provide reassurance to people thinking of starting their own enterprise.

Residents who attended the conference said they felt encouraged knowing the councils’ team can support their business growth and guide them to new opportunities.

Ms Hurley congratulated the winners of the 2019 award and added: “In previous years a select of transport schemes have won this category.

“This year, however, we have selected a grass-roots project where we were particularly struck by the economic return, the delivery of the service and the completeness of their impact analysis.

“The project provided free business advice to organisations over one week and was provided in local towns to help prevent economic shocks derailing the economy.”

The district councils’ campaign – ‘The Stronger Economy – start-up’ – was just one of the many projects from the council’s Business and Innovation Strategy Action Plan 2016-2020 that highlighted the importance of encouraging new business to be created, increasing business resilience to economic shocks, and boosting productivity.