DORSET Chamber would like to place on record its thanks and gratitude to Cllr Vikki Slade.

As an independent organisation with no political ties, we recognise that Cllr Slade has worked very hard for BCP Council and its residents at an extremely difficult time.

We look forward to working closely with the future leader of the council. It is absolutely vital that the new leader and cabinet are fully engaged with business across all sectors.

The economy was sluggish even before the Covid pandemic and as we start to see some signs of recovery it is more important than ever that we work together in the coming months to support our businesses and the local economy.

As a Chamber we are county’s voice of business and we will be proactive in giving our support to the new leader to develop an even stronger working relationship between our organisations as we face some challenging times ahead.

Ian Girling

Dorset Chamber chief executive