Partners mean business on accurate data

Such databases are needed by regeneration teams to offer business support but they are usually out of date before they are published. The reason for this is that churn is high, with as many as 20 per cent of businesses coming and going each year.

Now, the partnership is to start up a Trading Standards project that will aim to develop a common and comprehensive database of business contact information for all Staffordshire councils to share. The dataset would allow local authorities to work together more effectively in carrying out environmental health, licensing and Trading Standards inspections.

The project will build on a dataset already assembled by the environmental health and licensing teams of Lichfield, East Staffordshire and South Staffordshire in partnership with Staffordshire County Council Trading Standards. The countywide database will include a monthly report from the partnership's core team containing information on closed or changed businesses. This information is already shared by Trading Standards with the district councils so they can update their Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPGs).

In turn, the Staffordshire-wide dataset could be used to update the LLPGs, the CRM system, and local feeds into the National Land and Property Gazetteer.

Newcastle-under-Lyme and Tamworth have already expressed interest in joining the county council, Lichfield, East Staffordshire and South Staffordshire in the Trading Standards project.