A CHALLENGE was thrown down to more than 80 business people last week to help shape the future economic development of Salisbury and south Wiltshire.

Company bosses, officers and members of Salisbury District Council, training providers and representatives of bodies such as Business Link, Salisbury Civic Society and Salisbury Playhouse were at the Cathedral's refectory restaurant on Wednesday to hear about South Wiltshire Economic Partnership's 20-year vision for the area.

SWEP, which is funded by the district council, commissioned Great Western Enterprise (GWE) of Trowbridge to produce a report detailing ways in which south Wiltshire could develop, and listing any constraints to that development.

SWEP chairman Alan Taylor told those attending the awareness evening that SWEP wanted as many people as possible to give their views on the "sort of Salisbury and south Wiltshire you want in 2021".

"The streets of the world are littered with useless vision documents," he said.

"Ours must be a working document that is never finished because it is continually developing."

GWE's research revealed that fewer new businesses were starting up in the Salisbury area than in other parts of the south.

If the trend continued, the area could lose economic sustainability and more people would be travelling outside Salisbury to work.

Small businesses were vital to future economic growth and skilled workers needed to be attracted to Salisbury.

The area must tackle the problems of high property prices and low wages, ensure the unique environment of Salisbury was not jeopardised, build on the area's reputation as a tourist centre, find land for employment development and attract inward investment.

GWE's Daphne Milner said colleges must forge close relationships with employers so that companies were ensured of getting staff with the skills they needed.

David Michael, commercial director of Triangle South commissioned by SWEP to create a business training network gave a presentation on how the network could tell people about different sources of training, training events and the sharing of training, resources and costs.

Mr Taylor said: "We want people's views on the vision and the training network.

"The biggest weakness of small businesses is a lack of skills and in a recession, training is one of the first areas to go.

"This network will give business people access to high quality training and raise the skills of the workforce so that businesses can develop."