Anybody who knows me or read this blog knows business and the promotion of enterprise is close to my heart. I truly believe a council that backs local business, in-turn backs its communities and ultimately the prosperity of the area.

For too long councils are seen as organisations that hamper companies rather than encourage growth. I want this perception changed.

That is why I was heartened and very flattered to see the Cambridge News had included me in their top 25 list of Cambridge’s most influential business people.

Not because I want to get my picture in the paper – if I had, I’d have asked for a better one – but more the fact I want to get the message to local businesses we are here to support you.

I know I have only been in the job a couple of months but I am glad to see that this is being recognised in what I have said and done. Now I have to make sure that not only we talk the talk but walk the walk as well

The work we have been doing on the county’s new Local Enterprise Partnership as well as lobbying for a Local Enterprise Zone is just the start. It needs to be ingrained in all that we do.

I have already had a similar conversation with our award winning Trading Standards service. I know they provide great support for businesses and want to do what they can to cut red tape and bureaucracy.

But as a businessman I know that Trading Standards can be seen as providing more paperwork and enforcement. I am glad to say we have started a new scheme which will help cut some of that bureaucracy and give Cambridgeshire businesses real advantages when they trade nationally.

Certainly the business people I spoke to seemed enthusiastic about the direction we and Trading Standards are taking and that is exactly what I want to hear.