Area Focus: North Warwickshire
Concern over shortage of land Auctioneer sets her sights on breaking the mould
Auctioneering is a career traditionally dominated by men – but there’s one Warwickshire woman who is looking to break the mould. Sally Smith is Coventry and Warwickshire’s only female auctioneer and one of only a handful across the country. She has headed the auctions department at local property experts Loveitts for the past seven years and having only recently taken her place on the rostrum, she has already been recognised by the industry after being named a finalist in the Novice Auctioneer of the Year Awards. The Nuneaton businesswoman said: “I love the energy and passion of an auction. The first time I picked up the hammer and took part in my first auction I felt totally exhilarated. It was so exciting and I got the bug. I knew it was something I wanted to do again.” Sally’s passion for property started in her teenage years and after leaving school she entered the commercial property sector at a business in Bedworth before moving into new homes where she remained for the next 17 years. The former Bablake School pupil was then recruited by Loveitts, where she worked in new homes before Loveitts directors invited her to take over the auction department. She said: “It was a massively different culture from what I had been used to, but I embraced it immediately.” Loveitts recently held its biggest auction in Coventry which raised a recordbreaking £4.2million with 83% success on the night. Sally was an auctioneer for part of the night and helped to sell many of the 27 lots across the region – which included commercial property, terraced homes, parcels of land and a farm. She said: “It is a tremendously rewarding career and I would love to see more women coming into the field. Hopefully, one day in the near future, women auctioneers will be commonplace and even recognised for bringing a feminine approach to the business.”
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Nuneaton and Bedworth faces a stark shortage of employment land which will impact on the potential to create jobs in the area in the future, business leaders have warned. The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s north branch met at the headquarters of Subcon Laser in Nuneaton and were joined by Marcus Jones MP and representatives from Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council. David Penn, a property expert and chair of the Chamber’s Coventry branch, also joined the meeting to help feedback on the draft Borough Plan on the back of research the Chamber has undertaken across the city and the county into a lack of new opportunities for business space. “We have a chronic problem when it comes to employment land supply across the entire sub-region,” he said. “There is strong evidence that we have a huge surplus of demand over supply and plenty of anecdotal evidence from companies saying they can’t find space here. “What we are saying across Coventry and Warwickshire is that the plans for housing – in terms of numbers – are about right but when it comes to employment land we are falling woefully short. “The problem is that the Plan runs from 2011 to 2031. So we are already six years in from when the research was first carried out and our economy is in a very different place to where it was in 2011. “We will be feeding back formally on the Borough Plan but we have also written
Paul Carvell (centre) with Marcus Jones MP and Tom Mongan, of Subcon Laser (right) along with members of the Chamber’s north branch and representatives from Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council.
directly to Government on this because there is a link between the number of houses and the amount of employment land you can allocate. “We believe this link has to be broken. Without a more ambitious plan for Nuneaton and Bedworth when it comes to employment sites, there is a very real risk to job creation in the area in the future.” Paul Carvell, chair of the Chamber’s north branch, said: “We are extremely grateful for the work that David and colleagues have undertaken around the issue of employment land not just here in
Nuneaton and Bedworth but right across the sub-region. “Businesses and the wider public want to see ambitious plans for this area that show a positive aspiration for employment and inward investment into the region. “We were very grateful to get the opportunity to put our concerns to Marcus Jones and to Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council. “We hope that our local feedback, along with our soundings to ministers, results in a plan that offers real opportunities for new employment across our area."
Inspirational group enters its third year The Inspirational Women’s Group, which was set up by Lorraine Phimister of Willsons Solicitors and Cheryl Stanley of the SFB Group, has entered its third year. The group was set up to bring together business owners/businesswomen from Nuneaton, Bedworth and the surrounding area to share their knowledge and expertise. The first meeting took place at the then ‘Wing Wah’ in Nuneaton in December 2014, where eight businesswomen attended. Since then, the group has gone from strength to strength and now has about 75 members. The events take place every other month and there is no joining fee. Lorraine said “Both myself and Cheryl wanted to create a ladies networking group for ladies in business from Nuneaton and the surrounding area that is relaxed, informative, informal and fun. “We thought it would be great to have a meeting every other month where ladies in business could meet after work for a drink and bite to eat and share their business expertise and knowledge.
“These meetings are a great opportunity to meet and network with likeminded business women and to build important business contacts”. The events take place at local venues and are varied with guest speakers, spotlight on businesses, fun events and opportunities for women to showcase their businesses.
Lorraine said: “We are looking for new members to join so if you are female and own a business or fun a business and would like to come along to socialise, network and share your expertise, please contact me.” Email: lphimister@willsonslegal.co.uk
www.cw-chamber.co.uk