Millennium city entrepreneurs celebrate new status

The small business communities in the UK's three newest cities were this morning anticipating good times ahead.

Small business owners in Inverness, Wolverhampton and Brighton and Hove are all hoping the Queen's decision to confer millennium city status on their towns will bring significant economic benefits.

In Inverness, the celebrations were further heightened by the news that the government is to invest more than £1 billion in North Sea oil projects, and that Madonna's wedding in nearby Dornoch will provide a boost to the area's winter tourist trade.

All in all, this has been a very good week for Inverness, said Simon Cole-Hamilton, Director of Inverness Chamber of Commerce. It's very difficult to estimate what the effect of city status will be, but it can only be good for the profile of Inverness and the Highlands in general. The area has attracted a lot of inward investment in the last few years and this will help to make people recognise that we are a good place to do business.

Cole-Hamilton also welcomed the government's decision to grant licences for four major North Sea oil schemes. The projects, which will be unveiled by trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers, could provide work for two local fabricaton yards, which were mothballed earlier this year with the loss of 4,000 jobs. The closures took a lot of money out of the local economy, so we are hopeful that the new oil investment will be put these yards' way.

Meanwhile, hotels in the Dornoch area are making room for journalists and guests attending Madonna's wedding to film director Guy Ritchie.It's normally very quiet up here in winter,said Cole-Hamilton. The hotels usually close, but they've all been opening up again, mainly for the international press. We also hope the wedding will bring in more tourists next summer who want to see where they got married.

The mood was no less optimistic in Brighton and Hove. We're very pleased, said Alan Brooks, director of marketing at the local chamber of commerce, Sussex Enterprise. Brighton and Hove has got a flourishing new media community and a base in international tourism and business conferences. Anything that puts the community on the map and gives more credibility and more profile to the area can only be good news.

Brooks expects Brighton and Hove's new status will make the biggest difference at national and international level. Local people have seen the area as a city for a number of years. It's people from outside who are increasingly attracted by the city's cultural life - with people like Fatboy Slim living here - as somewhere to set up a business, whether that's inward investment from big companies, or IT start-ups coming to Brighton's 'silicon beach.'

The city status award is also an opportunity for Wolverhampton after years of decline for the West Midland town's local manufacturing companies. We're absolutely delighted, said Michelle Douse, marketing director at the Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce. Wolverhampton has been a city in waiting for far too long and we think this is what it deserves. Hopefully, this will bring many benefits - encouraging further inward investment and attracting more business visitors. A number of IT businesses have moved to the area or set up start ups locally, and we hope the new status could bring more benefits like that. It's been a hard decade for manufacturing in the area and will give people a much needed boost.

The Home Office announced that the Queen had decided to honour the three towns on Monday. The announcement was the conclusion to a two year competition for city status between 39 UK towns, including Luton, which last week suffered the closure of the Vauxhall car factory. The competition ended in controversy when Conservative MPs accused the Government of rigging the awards in favour of towns with marginal Labour seats.