PROMOTING business growth is vital to Surrey, says county council leader David Hodge.
Mr Hodge, who is the councillor for Warlingham, said: "We know that high-growth businesses are more likely to innovate, need access to peer-to-peer networking and benefit from knowledge transfer opportunities.
"Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a significant part of the Surrey economy and we need to foster and support their growth."
He said some of the schemes that the council runs to support regional growth include spending 60 per cent of its budget with local SMEs, cutting business costs and red tape, and creating 500 more apprenticeship places with businesses by next April.
