CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak delivered a message to the city where he was born and raised as a conference on the central south’s economic recovery got under way.

The Business South annual conference heard about opportunities to invest in the region and to make businesses net zero.

In a recorded message, the chancellor – who was born in Southampton and raised in Portswood and Bassett – emphasised his strong links with the region.

He said the Central South was in a positive position as the country moved forward from the difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Alastair Welch, director of ABP Southampton, spoke of the opportunities of the freeport status that encompasses the ports in Southampton and Portsmouth as well as the Waterside, Southampton Airport and Dunsbury Park.

“The real win for the Central South will be where organisations set up in the freeport area and after initially paying no business rates, when they do start to pay them, the local authority will retain that payment and that can be used to invest in infrastructure projects for the region,” he said.

“There is an opportunity for a halo multiplier investment effect.”

Keren Taylor, senior people director at Southampton-headquartered cruise giant Carnival UK, told the event at the Hilton Ageas Bowl about the challenges the industry faced when the pandemic hit, with 7,830 crew needing to be repatriated from Cunard and P&O ships.

The “ghost ships” moored along the Hampshire and Dorset coastline were in fact manned by 120 people at a time, she said.

She was cautiously optimistic and looked forward to a time when people would take a “two centre holiday”, with a “staycation” locally before joining a cruise.

Robin Hutson, named the UK’s second most influential hotelier, called for the government to allow people to enter the country on extended visas to fill a skills gap.

Professor Mark Smith, vice chancellor at the University of Southampton, said people living in the Central South should talk up the region’s positives.

“While more people are referring to the region as the Central South, we need to ensure it has a higher profile and as yet it is still a work in progress,” he said.

Keynote speaker David Smith, economics editor at The Times, said the region was well placed to recover and would not be disadvantaged by the government’s “levelling up” policy.

He said: “The current difficulties are a reflection of what happens when you turn lots of economies back on at the same moment.

“It is better to have high demand and low unemployment with supplies under pressure.”

Business South, an independent representative for firms in the region, is supporting the four local enterprise partnerships in the region to promote the government initiative the UK Business Hub. Sustainability experts were on hand to offer advice about making businesses net zero.

Business South Group chief executive Leigh-Sara Timberlake said: “Our annual conference has always been a major event in the business calendar so it was good to be able to get people back together in a safe way to look forward together – and having listened to our speakers, it seems we have a great deal to feel positive about.”