Please may we borrow you for five minutes? Sandwell Council is reaching out to local residents and businesses to ask for help to make Sandwell the best place it can be. This is your chance to have a say.

The council’s aim is to nurture an economy that benefits everyone; one that builds on the strengths of the local community.

It is important that wealth more evenly spread and no-one is left behind.

For the reasons mentioned, the council is inviting you to contribute your opinion by completing a short survey.

The survey asks questions such as: “What would make Sandwell a better place to do business?” and offers several options that you can select, including:

* Better infrastructure
* Improved transport routes and reliability
* More investment in workforce skills
* Improved high streets and town centres
* Easier access to finance for business development / expansion
* Higher quality premises
* More incentives to recruit local people
* More / better business parks
* Lower business rates
* More investment in schools
* Improved apprenticeship / work experience opportunities
* Help to get people back into work
* Stronger links with schools and colleges
* Better careers information, advice and guidance
* A healthier population
* Higher broadband speeds.

In return Sandwell Council wants to hear what you will do to help in this mission too. It is calling this exchange the Inclusive Deal for Sandwell.

Businesses are being asked to make a pledge, however big or small, to help the borough become stronger, sustainable and more prosperous. The pledge could be anything, from buying your workplace stationery locally to providing apprenticeships to local people.

It will be the first deal of its kind in the country and can’t happen without local people and businesses playing a part in making it a reality. The survey will help the council to understand what matters to you, the public, so it can understand and set its priorities for the future.

The survey should take about five minutes to fill in. Take the survey. We will keep you posted on the results!