To many of those living and working in Mansfield, it won’t come as a surprise that in a recent survey Mansfield was found to be one of the happiest places to live in the East Midlands.
But it gets better. In data released by the Office of National Statistics, Mansfield was also crowned the most entrepreneurial town in the UK! This is brilliant and well deserved news that must be celebrated by all who live and work here.
Mansfield is bucking the national trend when it comes to small businesses, with an amazing 425 opening just in the last year, a 14.9 percent increase which is the highest in England!
For reference, a business is classed as small if it employs up to 49 people, so this is massively encouraging news for those yet to take that leap and start their own business.
It truly shows the character of the people of Mansfield when in times of national uncertainty we still have such positive news for our town and the local economy.
It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase to the wider country the strong sense of positivity, community, work ethic and resilience that exists here.
Not surprisingly, the growth in small businesses has largely been in our rapidly growing transport and storage sector which contributed 165 of these new small businesses over the last year, a 79 percent increase in that sector.
This week I wrote to Ministers asking just that – to help people into work through driving courses, both to get work further afield, but also to open up opportunities for people to start a career in logistics.
It’s hard to imagine that the growth in small businesses and Mansfield’s place on Rightmove’s happiness index aren’t linked, with our town reaching 9th place for the East Midlands as a whole.
With loads of investment and urban development occurring throughout Mansfield with things like Severn Trent’s flood resilience project; and new homes being built at relatively affordable prices compared to elsewhere in the East Midlands, it’s no wonder why people are choosing Mansfield.
It’s not as if this news represents the peak of our potential as a town either. We have a lot still to do.
With even more investment coming our way and increased flexibility and control over how we spend that investment through opportunities like our £1.14bn devolution deal, and the £20bn STEP fusion project creating thousands of amazing jobs just up the road, we’ve got a great base with which to build on this success.
Coincidentally, last weekend was Small Business Saturday, a national opportunity for people to visit and experience what their local high street has to offer. As Mansfield’s MP, it’s a privilege to be able to say that when it comes to small business entrepreneurs, we do it best here!
