Business booming in the county of Northumberland

Northumberland County Council has welcomed new figures which show the county is well and truly open for business.

Data from Companies House and the Office of National Statistics revealed that more new businesses were registered in Northumberland during 2016 than in any previous year.

The study found that 1,302 new firms were registered in the county last year, improving on the previous year’s total of 1,289.

The number of registered companies in Northumberland now totals 9,713, up from 9,370 at the end of 2015, which equates to 3.7% growth.

The County Council’s Business Chair Cllr Scott Dickinson said: “One of the first priorities for this administration was to declare the county was open for business - these figures show that is definitely happening.

“There is such a wide range of businesses across Northumberland, from multi-national companies to smaller start-ups, and we’re absolutely delighted that more than 1,300 new companies have set up here over the past year.

“A key driver of our economic strategy is to support the creation of 10,000 jobs in the county by 2031 and ensuring businesses come to the county is vital to this plan.”

John Korchak, Director of Operations at Inform Direct, which collated the figures, said: “These figures underline the positive entrepreneurial culture that fosters new company formations and drives economic growth.

“Northumberland again delivered an impressive number of new companies in 2016, demonstrating that it offers a fertile environment for new businesses to spring up and prosper.“

Across the UK as a whole, there were a record-breaking 664,720 companies formed – up from 612,565 in 2015. The number of UK companies now stands at 3,962,909.

Of the 601,418 formations in England, 209,869 were in London. 35,502 companies were formed in Scotland, 15,795 in Wales and 7,389 in Northern Ireland.