The departing chairman of Kent and Medway’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has challenged national politicians to stop “interfering” with major infrastructure projects and let local bosses “get on with it”.

In a parting shot before he resigns the position he has held for 13 years next month, Roger House says the Government does not trust the “hours of terrific detailed work” done by local authorities to identify investment projects like Junction 10a at Ashford and Thanet Parkway station.

Mr House, a columnist for Kent Business, also questioned the effectiveness of the body set up to win grants from Westminster – the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP).

He said the organisation – which was awarded a £442m Growth Fund in July – is too big, does not have the “clout” it should and welcomed the move to split its management into smaller bodies which cover Kent, Essex and Sussex separately.

Mr House, who is an alternate board member of SELEP, said: “Government says ‘tell us what your priorities are and what you’re going to do with it’ but then gives us £100m less and says you’re going to do this and that.

“I wouldn’t necessarily put something different in SELEP’s place but I would challenge Government to listen to what business and the politicians have presented to them.

'The challenge is for the Government to let us get on with it'

“National government is still interfering even after we have gone through some really in-depth, complex processes. Businesses have sat at the table for hours. Local authority staff have put hours of terrific detailed work into these things and the Government still doesn’t say ‘ok, we accept and trust you – get on with it’. The challenge is for the Government to let us get on with it.”

He added: “SELEP is just too big and if it is that big it should have the same clout as the big city regions in asking for money.”

Mr House, who is leaving the FSB to concentrate on his own company the Centre for Micro Business, praised how local authorities like Kent County Council have now involved business people in their decision making process.

He also said he still feels small businesses have a voice which needs to be heard, as they make up 84% of the nation’s economy.

This figure might be higher in Kent, as the FSB can only measure numbers by VAT registered companies. In his Centre for Micro Business, Mr House meets a considerable number of firms who have not got to that stage.

Mr House, 65, of Churchill Road, Horton Kirby, near Dartford, said: “If we can help them sustain themselves and turn themselves into tax paying machines that is going to make all the difference to the local and national economy.”

He believes his biggest achievement as FSB regional chairman is his tenacity in lobbying Government on behalf of small firms.

He said: “You get Government coming out saying they are going to go for growth but they are only going to work with companies that are going to get really big. No, no, no, it is not just that. We have got to work with people in small business. It takes a certain kind of knowledge to actually deliver that.”

A sad farewell

Roger House is the longest-serving FSB Kent and Medway chairman, having represented the interests of small companies in the county for 13 years. Career highlights include interviewing a President of the European Parliament and hearing the news that London had got the Olympic Games while having dinner at No 10 Downing Street in 2005.

Mr House founded the Centre for Micro Business in 2008 to offer his knowledge to the growing number of tiny companies which formed during the recession.

He is also a councillor on Horton Kirby and South Darenth Parish Council and continues to do consultancy work in public relations.

Born in Erith, he grew up in Bexleyheath and married the girl who lived next door, Lynda, and has two grown-up children.