The City and District of St Albans is situated in central Hertfordshire, 20 miles from central London. Major road routes include the M1, M10, and M25 motorways, the A414 and A1081. The Thameslink rail service operates between St Albans and Bedford and central London and Brighton. These excellent communications, link the District to London and the rest of the country including Heathrow, Luton, Stansted and Gatwick airports. St Albans and Harpenden also have direct rail routes to the Eurostar rail service to Paris and Brussels via St Pancras International. The Abbey Line branch line railway service which connects St Albans and Watford.
The local economy is made up of employment in research and development, office (including headquarters and financial and business services industries) and retail sector. There is also a large proportion of small enterprises including freelance and consultancy. Tourism is a key local economic driver.
Business Link Services for the future
The regional Business Link service will close on 25th November 2011 and customers will be served by a web-based national service.
From November 2011, the Business Link website - www.businesslink.gov.uk - will be updated to provide easy-to-use, tailored information to help you start-up, improve or grow your business. New features will include:
A ‘growth and improvement’ service to make your business work better including: tools to help you diagnose and solve business problems, a business support finder, tutorials and video case studies, information on events in your area and links to business discussions and other services
If you are planning to start a business, or know someone who is, a whole new area of the Business Link website called ‘My New Business’ will provide tailored information and training to guide people through the process
If you are a business that needs support or a business professional who can offer support, www.mentorsme.co.uk can help you connect with each other. Mentorsme connects companies with mentoring organisations that can support and guide their growth
From 25th November, if you are unable to access the internet or have difficulty in doing so, you can ring the Business Link helpline on 0845 600 9 006. Although it will not offer you the kind of personalised support previously available via your regional Business Link service you will be able to get answers to your business questions.
Business Partners
The City and District of St Albans has a reputation of being an affluent, prosperous and has a highly skilled and educated resident population for the business community.
Local employers include: The Building Research Establishment (BRE), AECOM, Premier Foods, Rothamsted Research, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, to name a few.
Economic Sustainability Partnership
St Albans & District Council is focused on working in partnership, through the Economic Sustainability Partnership with key local agencies to help the business community develop and prosper and attract inward investment.
Business partners include:
• St Albans Enterprise Agency (STANTA) – which provides one - to- one business counselling sessions plus low cost office and workshop premises. www.stanta.co.uk
• Business Link - Government funded service to promote and support enterprise www.businesslink.gov.uk/east
• St Albans District Chamber of Commerce. This aims to further the interest of businesses in the area ensuring positive growth and development. www.stalbans-chamber.co.uk
An online local business directory website has been initiated by; St Albans City & District Council, St Albans Enterprise Agency (STANTA), St Albans District Chamber of Commerce and St Albans Centre for Voluntary Service (CVS) and funded from the St Albans and District Local Strategic Partnership(LSP): www.stalbansdistrictbusinessdirectory.co.uk
If you are a business based in St Albans District make sure you have a FREE listing and your listing is accurate. This will help promote your business and help ensure a sustainable local economy.
An inward investment website has been established for those business wanting to locate to the area www.hertsdirect.org/investhertfordshire
Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership
The new Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) will take a leading role in growing our county’s economy and creating a prosperous environment for businesses and residents.
www.hertfordshirelep.com
Date of last review: 13 October 2011