From a meeting of the 'West Sussex Rural Partnership' I recently attended I know that both Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council are very keen on supporting and promoting 'home-based businesses' and this initiative naturally dovetails well with the impetus on improving broadband in the region, which can be so essential for building such a business. Horsham District Council is responsible for the economic initiatives in this area, and have been particularly active in encouraging Home-based and start up businesses. West Sussex County Council work on more general infrastructure projects that cover the whole county. The West Sussex Rural Partnership is there to make national and local Government agencies better consider the many needs of rural areas throughout West Sussex. They have a web page at WSRP

Horsham's Local Business page will give you links to Microbiz and other initiatives, and you can find the County page here.

You should look at Business Link South East, who publish monthly newletters with details of available courses and advice for small businesses

Both Councils are constantly reviewing the help offered to you and there are seminars and many other support actions available. If you want more information, either contact the organisations direct via the web pages or ask here and I will find out more detail to help with your particular needs, and I will post more links and information as I get it.

Following enquiries about a simple form of advertising here, I have now put in place a 'Classifieds' Page. As you are aware our sponsors kindly help me to fund the domain, hosting and other costs of the site plus my time, allowing me to offer it as a community service for the area, and are provided with a page or pages dedicated to their business, prominent links on most pages and use of the front-page 'ticker' for announcements. The enquiries asked about a 'Small Ads' type of page on which simple 'one-liner' links or 'box' type adverts - or both could be placed. There are none of the other facilities that go with site sponsorship by our business partners but small and home businesses could use the site to promote their interests. The village website offers a cheap 24/7 placement for you with the advantage that search engines will pick you up and there is no reliance on someone finding a magazine or newspaper to locate your advert. Add to that the !exciting thought! that from your small office or spare room you are accessible world-wide through the web. It is there if you would like to use it.

If you want any more information from this site on what the Councils can do to help you build your business, or if any of you are interested in placing such 'ads' here please contact me using the Contact Form