Affordable housing, skills shortages, traffic congestion and planning guidance were all thrown into the melting pot this week as business leaders gathered to drive ahead the economic future of Oxfordshire, writes David Duffy. With unemployment in the county so low latest figures show it is just 1.2 per cent recruitment, skills shortages and skills gaps are becoming serious problems for companies across the board.

Figures released at a conference organised by the Oxfordshire Economic Partnership heard that 327,000 people were working in the county, with average weekly earnings of 410, only just above the UK average of 400, despite the increasingly high cost of housing in the county. An economic breakdown shows 46 per cent of people working in service industries, 27 per cent in public services and 17 per cent in manufacturing. The most recent quarterly economic survey by the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents business interests in Oxfordshire, showed two thirds of companies reporting difficulties in recruiting staff.

The general manager of the chamber, Mr Bill McCardle, said: "The Government must now take action on affordable housing. Local councils need to be given real targets and the powers they need to make them happen. If not the recruitment crisis will become even worse and hold back business growth and investment. If companies cannot recruit here they will move away, to elsewhere in the UK or abroad."

Mr McCardle also told the conference, held at the Williams Formula One team's conference centre at Grove, near Wantage, that pressure was being put on Government for better protection of sites for business development.

He said: "We cannot give in to nimbyism which sees sites which are suitable for job creation lost because of unreasonable planning restrictions."

He cited Upper Heyford as an example of the failings of the current planning system, which the Chamber believes is too slow and bureaucratic in a fast-moving world. He said: "While planners are busy arguing about whether the site is brownfield or greenfield, the buildings and other amenities are crumbling. An excellent opportunity for a modern development combining housing and industrial and commercial premises is being squandered."

Mr David Young, director of environmental services at Oxfordshire County Council, countered that the issue of brownfield sites in rural areas presented difficult decisions and development at Upper Heyford could affect both Banbury and Bicester.

Mr Young said the strategy of focusing development in the county towns had stood the test of time. He said: "I believe that in Oxfordshire we have brought certainty for business. Not everyone will have liked it, but there was certainty."

Mr David Crossman, managing director of medical equipment firm Owen Mumford, said traffic congestion in the county wasn't too bad "unless you don't go near Oxford." He said: "I don't go there so it doesn't worry me." He also attacked the growth in 30mph speed limits across the county.

On traffic congestion in the county, Mr Young said the county council had had major cuts forced on it by central Government and was "just about able to keep things ticking over." Mr Young said during the fuel crisis, the number of road accidents fell by a third, not just because there were fewer vehicles on the road, but because they were travelling slower. He said: "I think if that happened nationally it would have saved 1,000 lives." Mr Young said lower speed limits were being introduced because that was what people wanted.

While safety experts want traffic in the county to slow down, the economy as a whole is in top gear, but some areas threatened to put on the brakes.

Prof Clive Booth, chairman of the Oxfordshire Learning Partnership, said the combination of a booming economy and low unemployment was creating shortages in sectors from computing to clerical occupations, engineering to electricians.

He said almost a third of all employers reported skills gaps in their existing workforce, particularly in people management, sales and marketing and information technology.

Mr Bob Burlton, chief executive of the Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-operative Society, said of his 1,700 staff in Oxfordshire, 57 per cent was female and 465 were under 20.

He said: "Because of the low unemployment it is very difficult to recruit and keep staff. There is an absolutely crucial shortage of labour, some of which is ill-equipped for the labour market." Mr Bob Langton, director of Langton Property Marketing at Bucknell, near Bicester, asked why more wasn't being done to tempt people of retirement age back into the job market.

Mr John Bridgeman, new chairman of the Oxfordshire Economic Partnership, said the partnership's great advantage was that it had a vast amount of brain power in its ranks to address the problems faced by the county.

He said over the coming 12 months the partnership had a series of aims including promoting e-commerce; researching the development of a "technology arc", linking Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire and the counties in between; promoting social and rural enterprises; aiding debate about the future land use planning system; influencing the agendas of Government and the Regional Development Agency in favour of the county and shaping the future Small Business Service and Learning and Skills Council to benefit the county's businesses and workforce.

He also asked those attending to take away just one thought to do more for the young.

He said: "They are working very hard with not a lot of resources. Anything you can do as businesses to help the young would be so appreciated. If there is one thing to take away from today it is to think about that."