There is light in this bleak mid-winter

Recent surveys have suggested that morale within the business community right across the country is running at a low level. And that’s bad news because confidence plays such a big part in a successful economy, providing the impetus to make the sort of positive investment decisions that drive progress.

So, it was a great relief to hear such positivity during our most recent Initiative meeting, which highlighted the micro economic climate here in Bath and North East Somerset and gave us some much needed sunshine.

We kicked off with the ball of energy that is Professor Phil Taylor, the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Bath. His ambition for the institution was inspiring and it’s clear he will build on the brilliant work put in by his predecessor, Ian White, to make the University a powerful global academic player.

If we needed any evidence to back up his aspirations, it came from his colleague, Ben Metcalf, who described the world leading work he was involved with on “Human Augmentation”, defined as the application of science and technology to improve human, physical and cognitive performance. He illustrated his talk with some truly astonishing case studies of people with severe medical conditions having their lives changed for the better by the technology being developed here in Bath.

The spirit of buoyant optimism continued with an update from Tarquin McDonald, who shared some of the latest designs for the proposed new Rugby Stadium on the Recreation Ground. After the most exhaustive consultation and design process, the Club are hopeful the plans will be approved and the City will finally have a ground to be proud of, in which they can cheer their team to success.

Finally, we rounded things off by being the first forum to have the chance to hear from Bob Allies, who has been appointed to what is potentially the most significant and imaginative role, which will impact on the look of our district over years to come. He is called “Architect in Residence” and will be aiming to improve the quality of architecture projects and to set out a clear view of the aspirations for both the City and more widely across North East Somerset.

He explained that he is currently meeting people and having a lot of conversations to build up a picture of what is involved and he shared with us the seven main areas he is intending to explore. His experience, honesty and conviction sent us off with a spring in our step, and the belief that on a number of fronts we truly have reasons to be cheerful. What a great early Christmas present !